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2013 April 10 - 16 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Nuclear-powered ‘Astro Boy’ turns 10 in post-Fukushima Japan

Akahata ‘Current’ column

The birthday of “Astro Boy” is April 7, 2003. The comic book story of the humanoid robot living in the 21st century was first published in 1952 by Tezuka Osamu, who is often referred to as the father of Japan’s “manga”.

With his clear notion of right and wrong, Astro Boy is distressed by human beings’ foolish greed and hostility. The comic series started during the Korean War. Tezuka instilled his wish for peace in this robot and had him convey to readers how important their lives are and that humans should love each other.

Since the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, some have criticized the nuclear-powered manga character Astro Boy for having played the role of promoting nuclear power generation in Japan. The late Tezuka, however, had clearly expressed his opposition to nuclear power generation as well as nuclear weapons.

His bereaved family has spoken out against the accusation. Tezuka’s oldest daughter Rumiko, in a newspaper interview, said, “What my father said in Astro Boy was that human beings are not smart enough to master scientific technology and do not yet realize how dangerous it can be.”

As manga critic Ishiko Jun recalls his memory of Tezuka in his book, the manga artist was always struggling with how to tell children the importance of their lives and how to depict the right to live as decent human beings.

This was the basic theme of his 60-year-long life as well as the message he tried to send through his work.

Astro Boy, who turns 10 years old this year, would be shocked to see the current move to reactivate nuclear power stations. But with his sense of justice and trust in human beings, he would probably tell us, “Let’s never give up and work together to save the earth!”