HORRORS of BLACK RAIN, NUCLEAR BOMBS, SMOKING, and STUPID WARS

Emperor Hirohito of Japan got a little more than he bargained for when the mighty force of the USA came down on his country back in 1945. In my case, my neighbor also has the bomb. I am attempting a diplomatic solution to our problem seeing as though common sense and decency does not prevail here in my apartment community. The gall of some people to blow their smoke my way.

In the notes section of the great (at least, my favorite) philosophical book DEATHBOUND SUBJECTIVITY written by Alphonso Lingis I found a reference to this title I am to review in short time. Professor Lingis, I am positive and for good reason, suggested this title BLACK RAIN as important reading. Important enough that he read it. Has everything to do with his subject being what was natural as death is, has now become, because of the atomic bomb, something that comes for us in a much different manner than nature, and that actually profanes and robs us of the so-called natural death experience. BLACK RAIN is not a new book. Written in 1966 by Japanese author Ibuse Masuji it tells the story of a neighborhood of families that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the USA. The novel specifically follows the story of Shizuma Shigematsu and his wife, Shigeko who are guardians of their niece, Yasuko, and are charged with finding her a husband. Not an easy thing to do in the aftermath of radioactive rage. Health concerns pose grave difficulties in making a perfect match. The novel focuses on the human perspective of the suffering generated from this bombing instead of making a bigger deal in a political and more judgmental context.

The novel takes place in 1950 and alternates between the present and Shigematsu's journal entries from 1945 describing the horrors of facts in the bombing aftermath. The feeling transcribed is the plight of the survivors struggling with discrimination and social isolation due to radiation poisoning. Details in the journal describing the burns, the drawn-out deaths, and burials of the early victims make for difficult reading at times. I was interested for a time in reading about the days following the bombing, but after about three days worth of the linear story being reported it was becoming a bore to me. Not that I am insensitive to what happened, I am not. I think the bombings were terrible. So many innocent people burned, disfigured, murdered, diseased, their lives ruined forever by this ultimate act of aggression. Some would argue that the bombings saved millions of lives in the long run. Perhaps so. But I think we're in for more of the same and in worse proportions than even Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved to be. Given the fact that there are enough warheads to destroy the planet many times over it doesn't take an expert to see that some day the bomb will be in the hands of people who have no regard for any human life, even their own.

I wanted more story from Ibuse Masuji about the niece who could not find a husband. I was beginning to like Yasuko from the very beginning of the book until the author veered away from his most interesting subject of all. I am sure the novel takes us back into that story at some point but I am half way through it and really struggling to go on. It just isn't that good. It is too simple. Too linear. Too much reportage. Besides, today I tried to use one of my three renewals allotted for this boring book and the library refused to honor my request. Seems there is somebody else who has reserved the book for when I am finished with it and the library decided my renewals would not be honored. So I am a little ticked, a little disturbed because the book is in my possession, I have three more renewals allotted me, and the book is a damn bore. I guess I will not be finishing it. Add to my discomfort the new neighbor who is a heavy smoker in the apartment next to ours and I am dealing with my own nuclear fallout and air pollution. I am, in fact, being bombed.

I suggested my wife speak to the nice neighbor about his smoking so she did so a couple weeks ago. She said he was a nice young man, he promised to try to contain the smoke, and she offered the novel idea of "why not open a window?" It didn't work. The bombings continued. Sometimes with air raid warnings and sometimes not. It got to the point that when my wife heard the sous chef come home from work around 10 PM she would go into a mini panic as she knew his chain smoking would begin in earnest. It got to the point where she wasn't sleeping, she would move to the living room to attempt to rest on the couch, then the floor, a cushion, but never getting the sleep she needed in order to teach small children all day. I began to suffer as well because my wife was no longer with me in the bedroom, I no longer felt her naked flesh nightly pressed to mine, so I took matters into my own hands. I wrote him a letter.

Dear Neighbor,

I am asking you to refrain from smoking in your apartment if you cannot prevent your second-hand smoke from entering our apartment. My wife spoke to you last week about this and I do think you have tried, but it isn't good enough. My wife is highly sensitive to smoke and she did not sleep again. Second-hand smoke is dangerous and is documented to be hazardous to our health.

My wife and I both smoked many years ago and we know about the addiction and how smokers really do not have any idea about how irritating their smoke and smells are. But not only do we need our sleep in order to function in the world, we need to feel our air in our home is not dangerous to breathe. The good news for you is we are moving out around the first week of March. From that time forward you can smoke your brains out with no complaint from me, though I do wish you would stop for the sake of your own health.

In the meantime, please stop, and if you cannot stop then smoke in your bathroom with the window open. Your smoke finds it way through the old holes in this place, the pipe and cable entries, and even the ceiling joists. I have not complained yet to the management, but I will if you do not oblige our request. Please respect our need for safe air and refrain from smoking for three weeks. I feel you are using a dangerous weapon against us and I am unarmed to protect ourselves, which isn't a good feeling. Your smoke and smell from it makes us both very angry and I do not think that has been your intent. But please help to immediately correct this bad situation. We will love you for it.


Thank you.

Your neighbor