Tomonari nishikawa biography of william

The specter of nuclear cataclysm suffuses Tomonari Nishikawa’s Sound of a Million Insects, Light of a Thousand Stars (2014). Nishikawa buried his film in Tamura City near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

In 2011, three of the plant’s six reactors melted down after the site was hit by a tsunami that had been precipitated by an enormous earthquake. Dozens were injured, radiation leaked, and widespread water contamination followed.

Tomonari nishikawa biography of william shakespeare

Thousands died from the earthquake and tsunami, hundreds died in the resulting evacuations, and hundreds more may contract cancers related to radiation exposure. The residents of Tamura City have been told that it is safe to return to their homes but many have stayed away, and the Japanese government recently admitted that the site cleanup make take two hundred years.

Nishikawa drove around Fukushima Prefecture with a Geiger counter to help him choose a spot to stash the film, even as its presence remains immediately unseen or unfelt.

Nishikawa’s film,