‘When I first started in 2004, a lot of people thought what I was doing was crazy. They said, Let sleeping dogs lie. How do you expect to save someone if they’re already doomed? They said, Are you stupid?’ ibid. hero in jam-jar
Tojinbo Nonprofit Organisation Support Centre: ‘Let’s meet again but not on the cliffs, OK? ha-ha.’ ibid.
‘About 20 to 30 people were killing themselves in Tonjinbo every year. The community were capitalizing on that. They were exploiting it to attract tourists from across Japan. They were using it as advertising.’ ibid.
‘The success rate for jumpers is 70%.’ ibid. boat tourist trip dude
‘My parents killed themselves when I was in eighth grade. My father in January and my mother in October. When I see people standing on the cliffs, it feels like I’m looking at myself … I feel like I have to save them.’ ibid. lady
‘It’s happened here a few times: parents have jumped with their kids … Someone jumped with a child on their back and a baby in their arms. And there was a murder case when they dumped the body to fake a suicide.’ ibid. hero
‘I have about 20 patrol staff who work when they can.’ ibid.
Daily Patrol Log. ibid.
‘Their cries, their wishes, their hopes. I feel a sense of duty towards them. It’s a responsibility that comes with being born into this world.’ ibid.
Over the last 12 years, Yukio Shige and his team of volunteers have saved 550 people.’ ibid. caption
At little more than 150 years ago Japan was medieval. A land of feudal villages and knights in armour. But then on a single day on 1st January 1873 Japan declared its desire to modernize, to synchronize with the west … The architect of that revolution was a unique intrepid businessman – he was part buccaneer and part explorer – he was a Scot and his name was Thomas Blake Glover … he was a pioneer: only a handful of foreigners have ever seen Japan. Neil Oliver: The Last Explorers s1e4: Thomas Blake Glover, BBC 2011
He had been living in Nagasaki for 3 years. He was only 24. ibid.
Traders like Glovers felt they could do business with whomever they pleased. ibid.
Fathered many illegitimate children. ibid.
He switched from trading tea to the more profitable enterprise of running guns. ibid.
This is the story of the first ever use of a weapon of mass destruction. The target was an empire with its own secret weapon: suicide bomber. On 6th August 1945 a bomb unlike any other fell from the skies above Hiroshima. The bomb was designed by some of the world’s finest scientists. Using it was one of the most momentous political decisions ever made. Hiroshima, BBC 2020
The entire city of Hiroshima was annihilated in just a few seconds. ibid.
The force of the explosion was estimated to be the equivalent of 67 million sticks of dynamite. ibid.
The bomb left San Francisco on board the USS Indianapolis two hours after the successful test in New Mexico. ibid.
The very first Europeans to reach Japan arrived by accident. David Olusoga, Civilisations s1e6: First Contact
Eventually, a new generation of Western artists would put colour back into European art. But their inspiration would come from another culture on the other side of the world – Japan. Simon Schama, Civilisations 1e7: Radiance, BBC 2018
The Japanese are occupying all the islands. They will get Australia. The white race will disappear from these regions. Adolf Hitler
The symbol of all evil: it is something odd, hidden deep behind two words: Hiroshima, Nagasaki. It was said that it was a war against fascism. It was said it was to prevent further American deaths, but hundreds of thousands died, the accounting is irrefutable. In a chess game, the objective is to checkmate the opponent’s king. All of the pieces then become collateral. Their respective value depends on the strategic value you assign to them. In the present case the King is an emperor, and Japanese death will provide the collateral. Shock and awe. A massacre determined by an algorithm. It came at eight o’clock on August 6th 1945. Nobody was expecting it. They were pawns in a sordid game. Killing at a distance had just taken on a new meaning. No explanation required, no cries tolerated. No pity. Exterminate All the Brutes s1e3: Killing at a Distance or … How I Thoroughly Enjoyed the Outing ***** BBCiplayer 2021
Northern Japan, March 11th 2011: The earthquake continues for 5 minutes. It’s felt 230 km away in Tokyo … The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan. Seconds from Disaster s5e1: Fukushima, National Geographic 2012
The first news pictures show widespread devastation throughout the north of the county. ibid.
Fukushima Power Station bears the full force of the Tsunami … A massive aftershock rocks the plant; almost immediately the building which houses Reactor No. 1 explodes … An even larger explosion blows the building that houses Reactor No. 3 … And the very next day another explosion causes a huge fire in Reactor building 4. ibid.
The skies over Japan, August 9th 1945: America is about to drop its second atomic bomb in three days. Within seconds 30% of Nagasaki is flattened, and more than 30,000 people are vaporized. Seconds from Disaster s6e8: Nagasaki: The Forgotten Bomb
With the force of 22 kilo-tons of TNT, Fatman generates heat of over 4,000 degrees Celsius, and winds of up to 1,000 kilometres an hour that surge across the city.
6.7 square kilometres of the city has been turned to rubble. More than 70,000 men, women and children are vaporized. 70,000 more are injured. ibid.
On March 20th 1995 the Tokyo Metro was the scene of an attempt at mass murder. The attackers released the nerve agent Sarin, a chemical so powerful that in its pure form, the tiniest droplet is enough to kill. This was the first ever use of a weapon of mass destruction for terrorism. The group behind the attack turned out to be a new Japanese religion, called Aum Shinrikyo, or Aum the Supreme Truth. For them the murder of so many civilians was not an attempt to gain publicity for their cause, but a religious act, a holy act, a holy act. Zero Hour s1e4: Terror in Tokyo
In 8 years he has built Aum up from nothing to a flourishing organisation with 40,000 members worldwide. ibid.
The idea that Japanese citizens would ever commit such a large-scale and indiscriminate crime seems unimaginable. ibid.
We’re off the coast of the southernmost tip of Japan. I’ve come to investigate an underwater mystery. Quest for the Lost Civilisation I: Heaven’s Mirror, Graham Hancock reporting, Channel 4 1998
The last time it was above water was 10,000 years ago. ibid.
Aokigahara Forest, Japan: Each year nearly 100 Japanese citizens come to these verdent woods not to walk or explore but to commit suicide. Ancient Aliens s3e10: Aliens and Evil Places, History 2011