The Zero-Nuke Festival hosted by the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance started in Taipei yesterday with works by the Taiwan-Japan Joint No Nuke Illustration Exposition and the Hibakusha Film Exposition.
The Hibakusha Exposition Association, with the Japanese word hibakusha meaning “victims overtly exposed to radiation,” is an event started by Japanese filmmaker Ittetsu Morishita and five other filmmakers equally concerned about victims of nuclear materials.
The six filmmakers have gone to the sites of nuclear disasters and filmed the results of nuclear usage, and their travels have taken them across South Korea, Japan, Belarus, Tahiti, the US, Australia and other nations.
In the Contaminated Slipper piece exhibited yesterday, the group chose to show nuclear contamination by exposing the minute traces of contamination on a slipper found in the alert zone near the beach on Fukushima by photographer Takashi Morizumi.
The photograph caption said: “It’s not hard to imagine how terrible it would be if the radiation made its way into the human body and started destroying cellular DNA.”
Another picture after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster on March 11, 2011, showed a village in the danger zone devoid of people with only a few dogs wandering around. A Tokyo Electric Power Company banner reads: “Nuclear power, the wonderful energy source of the future.”
The Taiwan-Japan joint anti-nuclear illustration exposition displays 220 illustrations, including some by Jimmy (幾米) and 19 other renowned illustrators who have also put their work up for sale.
The alliance is to hold an outdoor concert, as well as a series of film expositions and seminars today and tomorrow and is to invite director Ko I-chen (柯一正) and writers Hsiao Yeh (小野), Hao Kuang-tsai (郝廣才) and Giddens Ko (九把刀) to participate in the events.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
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At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man