Fukushima Still Haunts Us, Captured in Photographs

At the end of each year, as we cross over into the next, we put the disasters of the past—natural and manmade—behind us. And we hold our breath to see what disasters we will yet see. Though it’s now 2013, one disaster from 2011—both natural and manmade—still stays with us: the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and the subsequent nuclear reactor meltdown. In fact, The Guardian just broke the story a few days ago about how the radiation is making Fukushima children the most obese in Japan, since parents are keeping their children indoors. In case we’re tempted to ignore the headlines and forget about the tragedy, photojournalist Kazuma Obara has documented the fallout from the disaster in Reset—Beyond Fukushima: Will the Nuclear Catastrophe Bring Humanity to its Senses? “A year later, we continue to grieve and face a paralyzing reality, unable to reset and look ahead,” Obara writes in the prologue. His lens captures people in hazmat suits driving in cars, rooms destroyed by tsunami debris, and children in school as people start to put their lives back together. And interviews capture the story on the ground from locals. Obara calls us to learn our lesson from Fukushima, but the book also reminds us to brace ourselves for the inevitable tragedies to come in 2013—though we hope for none. • $66; Lars Müller Publishers, 2012