Democracy Now!: "Contamination Fears Linger for Japanese Children, Workers One Year After Fukushima Meltdown"

"Contamination Fears Linger for Japanese Children, Workers One Year After Fukushima Meltdown":

We go to Japan to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the Kyoto-based group Green Action, as Japan marks the first anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that left approximately 20,000 dead or missing and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

It was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. About 326,000 Japanese residents remain homeless, including 80,000 evacuated from the vicinity of the Fukushima facility.

Residents evacuated from the zone set up in a 12-mile radius around the nuclear plant are especially struggling to rebuild their lives. We also speak with Saburo Kitajima, a contract laborer and union organizer from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. "The workers at the Fukushima plant are currently working under extreme circumstances," Kitajima says. "In spite of being exposed to radiation, the levels of wages run to about $100 a day."