Following the earthquake that shook the Pacific coast of Tohoku, waves of 30m ravage inside Japanese land. Accompanied by his Geiger counter, Kosuke Okahara spent 4 years to document the consequence of Fukushima disaster as well as the life on the ground. His images guide us to enter a world filled with emptiness and apprehend a reality that has lost its colors.

Little by little, I began collecting fragments from the Fukushima disaster.

I photographed moments that said something to me, especially moments that would not disappear in mere seconds. They were scenes that would linger in time, just like the radiation that lingered in Fukushima. I was collecting the fragments of people, ruins, landscapes, little odd scenes, and beautiful moments that existed within the devastation.

“How will people in the future who will see these photographs react and comprehend this disaster?”

I strolled around Fukushima with that question in mind.

It has been more than four years since the explosion of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. People continue living in the region without seeing much amelioration. I have no idea what will happen next.

The only thing I can do is to leave these pictures for the future generations, so that they can learn from history, as well as for them to come to terms with what this disaster truly means.

Winston Churchill once said that, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

I hope my photographs will serve a purpose.

Kosuke Okahara

Fukushima Fragments

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Published in December, 2020
28.8 x 23.8 cm
176 pages
French & English
Published in October 2015
Printed by Graphicom
Published by Edition de La Martinière

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