Did you know that not long after the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, there was a "black rain" on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Will it rain after the bomb exploded, or did Hiroshima and Nagasaki both "happen" to have a cloud floating over not long after the bomb was blown up?
On July 29, the Hiroshima District Court of Japan ruled that the Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City Governments must provide "black rain" victims with "health records of victims of the explosions" (Editor's note: The Japanese "victims" refer specifically to the victims affected by the atomic bombings). This is the first time that Japan has made a judicial judgment on "black rain" since the US military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
At the same time, the verdict is tantamount to recognizing the residents outside the "black rain" area officially designated by the Japanese government and also being victims of nuclear bombs (victims), and revising the Japanese government's criteria for identifying victims of nuclear bombs (victims) so far. What exactly is "black rain"?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >What is "black rain"? </h1>
The "black rain" in Japanese refers specifically to the fact that after the US military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, mixed with radioactive materials and ashes produced by the nuclear bomb explosion, and rushed to the sky on the updraft generated by the explosion, a black rain fell on the site of the nuclear bomb explosion and its surroundings shortly after the explosion of the nuclear bomb.
Analysis of the remains of the "Black Rain" left on the walls of houses in the Takasu area of Hiroshima Prefecture, the "Black Rain" at that time was a mixture of carbon, silicon, iron, and uranium mines, which were the main components of nuclear bomb ammunition.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > word that exists only in Japanese, "black rain"</h1>
Since Japan is still the only country in the world that has been attacked by nuclear weapons, the impact of nuclear bombs on the environment or human body after the explosion is only an example of Japan, so that there are many words related to nuclear bomb explosions in Japanese and there is no way to find corresponding translations, "black rain" and "exploded (person)" are several examples.
The reason why the term "black rain" is widely known in Japan is that literary works have also helped. In 1965, Ibuki serialized a novel originally titled "Nephew Marriage" in Shincho with the title of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb explosion, and halfway through the series, the title of the novel was changed to "Black Rain", which was later made in 1989 by Imamura Masahira into the film of the same name, "Black Rain".
According to the results of the current online search, the English translation of "Black Rain" is mostly literally translated as "black rain", and the use of this "black rain" is commonly found on the English version of the Japanese media news website, or in Japanese academic papers written in English. In any case, the Japanese word "black rain" or the English word "black rain" refers specifically to the "black rain" that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. In the case of rain following other circumstances (e.g., nuclear weapons test explosions), the term "radioactive fallout" or "rainout" is mostly used in English.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a nuclear bomb explosion cause rain? </h1>
In fact, in addition to the "black rain" after the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some people also noticed that it seemed easier to rain after the Soviet and American powers conducted nuclear weapons test explosions during the Cold War, but the proposition of "whether nuclear bomb explosions will cause rain" still needs more research and support.
In May 2020, Harrison, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, published a study in the Journal of Physical Review Letters, pointed out that during the period 1962-64, when nuclear weapons test explosions were frequent, the data measured at the weather station in Northern Scotland showed that there were more clouds charged than usual in the clouds at that time, and the naked eye could see that the clouds were thicker than the general situation, and the raindrops during local rain were usually 24% more charged.
Harrison believes that although the most common places for nuclear weapons test explosions at that time should be small islands in the Nevada Desert, the Arctic or the Pacific Ocean, which are far away from Scotland, the radioactive material after nuclear weapons tests can free particles in the air, and these charged particles can spread out in the clouds.
However, this study does not actually prove that nuclear explosions cause rainfall, and the purpose of this study is not to solve the puzzle, but to study the charge of non-thunderstorm clouds in nature.
Conservatively speaking, the "black rain" of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be regarded as an evolutionary version of the radioactive dust and radioactive dust of the nuclear explosion, precisely because Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still the only places where atomic bombs were dropped, and not long after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped by the US military, they just happened to have rainfall records, so that the "black rain" of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became a unique phenomenon in the world and still a variety of mysteries.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > how big is the "black rain" range in Hiroshima? </h1>
Returning to the Hiroshima "Black Rain" lawsuit, the focus of this lawsuit is how large the "black rain" rainfall range was at that time.
In 1976, based on a 1945 survey by the Hiroshima Metropolitan Meteorological Observatory, the Japanese government designated the oval area of about 29 km on the Hiroshima mayor's axis and about 15 km on the short axis as a "black rain" area. This "black rain" area can be divided into the "heavy rain area" with the heaviest rainfall (an oval range of about 19 km on the long axis and 11 km on the short axis), and the "light rain area" with slightly less rainfall.
However, In 1988, Masuda Yoshinobu, former head of the Research Office of the Meteorological Research Institute of the Meteorological Agency of Japan, published a new survey result, arguing that the actual "black rain" in Hiroshima at that time should be four times larger than the current central definition of the "black rain" area. The city of Hiroshima also published a new survey report in 2010, indicating that the actual scope of "black rain" should be 6 times larger than the currently defined "black rain" area.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > is not a "heavy rainy area", and the content of victim assistance is much worse</h1>
According to the Victim Assistance Act, people within 5 km of the explosion site at the time of the bomb explosion are considered "victims". As long as you meet this qualification, you can receive the "Health Record Book of the Victim" and enjoy benefits such as free medical treatment and regular health consultations.
Although the "heavy rain area" is not within 5 kilometers of the site of the nuclear bomb explosion, the Japanese government designates the "heavy rain area" as a "special area". As long as the nuclear bomb explosion is at the time of the "black rain" of the masses, can regularly participate in free health examinations, once the health examination is detected 11 types of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, they can receive the "health record book of the victim", and in principle, they can seek medical treatment free of charge.
This time, the 84-accuser group were residents aged 75-96 who lived in the current Sabo-ku and Ahnun Ota-cho towns, and their descendants. When they were dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima, people lived outside the "light rain area" or the legal "black rain". However, because it is not within the legal scope of "heavy rain areas", even if you suffer from 11 types of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, you cannot receive the "health record book of the victim".
The plaintiffs claimed that they really had "black rain" after the explosion of the nuclear bomb, and in the follow-up investigation, they also pointed out that the actual "black rain" rain range at that time should be wider than the "heavy rain area" and "light rain area" divided by the Japanese central government in 1976, so they hoped that at least they could compare the "heavy rain area", and once 11 types of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease were diagnosed, they could receive the "health record book of the victims".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > problem is that Japanese policy does not give recognition</h1>
In fact, before this lawsuit, Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City had expressed their hope with the central government that they hoped that the scope of "black rain" rainfall could be expanded according to the latest survey results, and that "heavy rain areas" or "light rain areas" should not be subdivided, and as long as there were 11 types of diseases that were affected by the "black rain", they could receive the "Health Record Book of the Victims". However, the Japanese government believes that the latest investigation reports of Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City are based on oral information from the masses at that time and lack scientific basis, and reject the request of Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City.
As a result, this time, the group of plaintiffs had no choice but to file a lawsuit with Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City five years ago, claiming that they met the specifications of the "Victim Assistance Act" as a final means of refusing to accept their application for the "Health Record Book of the Victims" in Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > there was no time to investigate at that time, and the testimony of the parties should be accepted</h1>
Judge Yoshiyuki Takashima of the Hiroshima District Court in Japan held that after the explosion of the nuclear bomb, there were certain difficulties in collecting "black rain" information, and the testimony of the parties saying that they had showered the "black rain" was trustworthy, although it was still impossible to determine the relationship between the "black rain" or the nuclear bomb explosion and the specific disease, but as long as the 11 types of diseases were diagnosed, even if the parties were not in the "heavy rain area" at the time, they should be regarded as "blown".
Since Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City had hoped from the outset that the Japanese government could expand the scope of application, when the verdict was issued, both Hiroshima Prefecture and the Hiroshima City Government said they would not appeal. In the future, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which represents the Japanese government, will discuss with the Hiroshima Prefectural Government and the Hiroshima City Government the subsequent distribution of the "Health Record Book for Victims".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Nagasaki is now also fighting lawsuits</h1>
On the other hand, in addition to Hiroshima, there is currently a lawsuit in Nagasaki Prefecture to expand the scope of applications for "Victim Health Handbook".
Unlike the Hiroshima controversy, the Nagasaki plaintiffs' group did not discuss the scope of the "black rain" rainfall, but hoped to change the current Japanese government's division from the nuclear bomb explosion site as the center, 12 kilometers from north to south, and 7 kilometers wide from east to west, to within a 12-kilometer radius of the nuclear bomb explosion site, and if you suffer from a specific disease, you should meet the application qualifications of the "Health Record Book of the Victims".
Since the Nagasaki plaintiffs' group filed in 2007, the Supreme Court has lost in 2017 (the first time) and the Second Court in 2019, respectively, and 28 people have now filed a complaint with the Nagasaki District Court again. The Hiroshima District Court's decision may have a chance to influence the outcome of the Nagasaki District Court's retrial.