2013.03.11 "The Invisible Bomb" (EN) memorial readapation

The Invisible BombWritten by Yoshiko Takahashi

Illustrated by Hayato Kato

Retranslated, adapted, and created

by Takahiro Katsumi (Office BALÉS)

There was a time when we were at war.

The sky was crowded with warplanes, and they dropped bombs on us, and we dropped bombs on them.

Children evacuated as groups to a more safer, countryside, because the grownups wanted to at least protect their children.

So the children escaped to safer places in the countryside.

So the Important People felt good about it and built a whole lot more of these ‘Things’ that make life much easier.

Several decades later, the so-called “Important People” built the ‘Thing’. They built it on a spacious countryside, because there were no spaces in the big cities.

They said this ‘Thing’ can make life better and much easier for people to live. Urban people enjoyed the easy way of life.

"What a great way to live!We can use a lot of electricity!"

Rural people accepted that plan because they though they can have more jobs, more money, and just enjoy an easy way of life!

“They all seem to be very happy. We should build more and produce more!“

The Important People answered, "There is no problem as long as you use it in a normal way. It would never turn into a bomb! Look how all people, urban and rural, are enjoying their current way of life!"

"You are enjoying it too, aren't you?"

This was true. The ‘Thing that may become a bomb’ was useful. Rural people had more jobs, and their daily life was much better.

The ‘Things that may become a bomb’ were built in the countryside. Urbanpeople didn't even know WHY their life has become so much easier.

One day, a concerned person asked,

"Yes, our life has become much easier, but I wonder... Isn't this ‘Thing’ something that could become a bomb?"

The truth was that the Important People were very selfish. They only cared about themselves. When the ‘Thing that could become a bomb’ became a real bomb, and people suffered from it, they completely ignored them!

The Important People told the rural people that the ‘Thing that could become a Bomb’ was safe. The rural people trusted the Important People.

But the time was approaching. The time when ‘The Thing that could become a bomb’ becomes a real Bomb.

A smart person warned, “The ’Thing that could become a Bomb’ is very dangerous!”

"No problem!" said the Important People, “there is no problem as long as you use it in a normal way. It would never become a real bomb! Look how all people, urban and rural, are enjoying their current way of life!“

They said this over and over again.

They didn't bother to listen at all. So many people of this country believed in what the Important People said.

Then one day…

The rural people were attacked by a big earthquake and a huge tsunami!

This was a "trigger" that made the ‘Thing that could become a Bomb’"

into a real bomb!

The selfish Important People were afraid because it was finally "triggered" as they knew. They knew they were lying; lying that the ‘Thing’ would be safe.

And they were afraid for the truth to be revealed.

So the selfish Important People kept on saying, "No problem! No problem!"

They kept quiet about the danger. They didn't feel guilty about lying at all.

However.... some people started saying, "Something is wrong!"

And many people began to feel the same way.

People living near the dangerous Bomb could never return to their homes.

Workers who knew nothing about the danger worked very hard to try stopping the Bomb from exploding!

But the real danger came

AFTER the Bomb blew up!

The damages were enormous!

You couldn't see anything falling out.

You couldn't see it, smell it, or sense it!

No one could notice what was going on!

The Bomb was harmful to people's health.

People living nearby will seriously suffer for next ten to twenty years.

Victims feared the invisible danger.

If the Bomb was visible, like the bombs falling from the sky,

people could have easily recognized it and decide to evacuate immediately!

But the selfish Important People never said anything about the risks!

So they kept saying, "No problem!“

So the people could not evacuate.

Some simply trusted the Important People.

Some simply could not trust them at all.

Some simply gave up on them.

Some were confused between the two.

And some families were broken up.

Many people had many different feelings

and thoughts, but because the Important People kept on saying, "No problem!“ people could not move out on their own.

People were not allowed to evacuate,

even as a group!

Some countries even go to war

to find their answers.

Drifting with the clouds and the winds, the Invisible Bomb spread from the countryside to urban areas, and beyond.

Without anyone ever noticing it!

No one can notice such an Invisible Bomb.

People often get divided over what they believe about invisible things.

Some believe it, some do not.

Some believe in God, some do not.

Some even believe their God is better.

But they are all invisible.

So no one could give a straight answer.

That is when the grownups and children become sick.

That is why, it was the same.

The ‘Thing that could become a Bomb’ became a real Bomb by the “trigger” of the earthquake and the tsunami.

It was the same as waiting ten years for the bomb to slowly come down on us.

It's like the bombs' explosion occurring ten years later!

It takes more than ten years for the Bomb to complete the explosion. People will only recognize it when all is over.

But even so….

The Important People still kept saying, "No problem!"

The Invisible Bomb poisoned the land,

and the land will remain inhabitable

for hundreds of years.

In ten years, the Important People

would have all grown old and died away.

They only cared about their own happiness, during their own lifetime!

Many children became sick while growing up!

A person who was then a child when

The ‘Thing that could become a Bomb“

became a real Bomb, gave birth twenty years later.

That baby had slightly strange-shaped hands,

but without any other sickness.

"Thank god!" said her mother with a relief.

But many other sick babies were born.

In that baby's garden,

there were many strange flowers,

like two-meter-long dandelions, or

flowers with different colors

on each side of their petal.

Then one day….

When the baby became an elementary school student, she asked her grandma and grandpa,

"Why are my hands different from the others?"

"Why does my friend overseas tell me it is because my country spread the Invisible Bomb, when I am a Japanese living in Japan?"

That grandma

or

that grandpa

reading this story

to your grandchild

could be YOU

The End

Based on

"The Invisible Bomb (Mienai Bakudan)"

Written by

Yoshiko Takahashi

Illustration by

Hayato Kato

Retranslated, adapted, and created by

Takahiro Katsumi (Office BALÉS)

Special thanks to

Moms to Save Children from Radiation