Anxiety in the quiet of the doctor's office, circa 2011

Anxiety in the quiet of the doctor's office, circa 2011

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Fukushima, the tsunami and earthquake damage were followed by the nuclear power plant accident, and before people could rebuild their lives, they were enveloped in anxiety over invisible radiation. Although the town was beginning to regain its serenity, the people's minds were filled with unanswered questions about the future of their children and the safety of their daily lives. Experts on television spoke about the situation in abstract terms, and government announcements vacillated between caution and ambiguity, leaving the public at a loss as to what was at the heart of the information, and they continued to waver between relief and anxiety.

In the midst of this situation, the residents' words spilled out the moment the door to the examination room was closed, and they carried the weight of the tense time that had elapsed. They quietly opened up to the doctors their concerns, which they would not normally express to anyone, such as whether the radiation dose was too high and whether they could let their children out of the house. Those who had been so adamant outside expressed their inner turmoil for the first time in front of the doctors. Sometimes, even those who appeared to be indifferent to the issue at first glance revealed their feelings in their silence, saying that they had really wanted to ask about radiation.

This silence was common throughout society in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The distance between professional information and the realities of everyday people was widening, and without accurate knowledge reaching them, only their fears were amplified. The dialogue in the doctor's office was one of the few places where the distance was bridged, and the doctor did not just explain the numbers, but took on the role of accepting the anxiety itself. Even during the brief conversations at the homes they visited, the residents asked for reassurance, and the doctors carefully responded one by one. The accumulation of these small conversations thinned the layer of anxiety and slowly returned the residents' hearts to their daily lives.

The web-based record of the time of the earthquake also points out the distrust of government announcements and expert comments, the anxiety of households with children, and the ambiguity of evacuation orders. In particular, the phrase "no immediate health effects" was widely criticized, leading residents to question whether they would be safe now or in the future. This background made the dialogue between doctors and residents even more earnest.

Words born in the doctor's office cannot be a great symbol of recovery. However, the quiet back-and-forth of one-on-one conversations was what supported the emotional rebuilding needed in Fukushima in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The time spent transforming invisible anxiety into visible words was an invaluable process for the residents to regain a sense of their own lives once again.