Lucky Dragon No. 5 Survivor Discusses Nuclear Ban Goal

Above, the Lucky Dragon No. 5 on display in Tokyo.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the influences in the creation of the Godzilla character was the incident of the Lucky Dragon No. 5 (Daigo Fukuryu Maru) in March 1954. [See http://en.japantourist.jp/view/lucky-dragon-no-5.) The 1954 Godzilla included a nod to the incident in the opening sequence of a fishing trawler. On the ship in the movie, a life preserver is shown in the background with a "No. 5" plainly visible. Godzilla was released in November of that year.

Above, the fishing boat in "Godzilla" with a "No. 5" visible
on the life preserver in the background.  Toho Co., Ltd.

As this week marks the 68th anniversary of the a-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Japan Times has posted an interview article with one of the survivors of the Lucky Dragon No. 5 incident.

They wrote:

Matashichi Oishi, 79, who served aboard the Fukuryu Maru No. 5, a tuna boat exposed to radiation, is determined to carry on telling his story and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. 

In an interview ahead of this week’s 68th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oishi, who was exposed with 22 other crew members to radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in March 1954, said he wants to keep appealing for the elimination of nuclear weapons “as long as I live.”

To read the full article, go here.