Samurai Outfits that glow in the dark

[GomiGirl]

Thought this warranted its own thread.
Samurai in Fukushima Guard a 1,000-Year-Old Tradition

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For more than 1,000 years people of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan have gathered every summer to celebrate an ancient tradition of the samurai. The Soma Namaoi festival is as much a part of their heritage as the warrior and equestrian culture it reenacts and honors, and in the face of radiation from the nearby Daiichi nuclear reactor, they’ve decided the show must go on.

Tokyo photographer Noriki Takasugi’s series Fukushima Samurai — The Story of Identity captures the samurai of the Soma Nomaoi festival as they risk their own health to sustain a tradition that largely defines them.

Many of the men in Takasugi’s photos are from the hard-hit town of Odaka-ku, who along with thousands of others in Fukushima were displaced or saw their homes destroyed when its residential coastlines were swept away in the tsunami of 2011. Along with the houses went the accoutrements of Soma Nomaoi — their weapons, their ceremonial Jinbaori clothing, and, sadly, their horses. Much of what they’ve worn for the festival since the tsunami is borrowed or otherwise cobbled together, and after spending months in the vicinity of the Daiichi plant before daytime visits were again allowed, many of the clothes they did retrieve were likely irradiated. In the Odaku-ku area, Takasugi says her geiger counter measures radiation between five and 50 times the levels registered in her Tokyo neighborhood.

“None of the people I asked cared about the irradiated clothes,” says Takasugi. “It was my impression that it was more important for them to have their weapons and their ceremonial costumes.”

Takasugi was drawn to photograph the area around Fukushima after the tsunami, which followed a massive earthquake on March 11, 2011 and set off a chain of events that led to a meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear plant. While interviewing residents, she met a senior official from the Soma Nomaoi festival, who put her in touch with numerous other participants. Takasugi quickly saw how significant the festival was to the shattered community, and began photographing the samurai in full regalia at locations that were significant for them, often at their former homes or shrines.

more.....

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[matsuki]

While I totally feel bad for these people and the shit they lost/was irradiated...

In the Odaku-ku area, Takasugi says her geiger counter measures radiation between five and 50 times the levels registered in her Tokyo neighborhood.

“None of the people I asked cared about the irradiated clothes,” says Takasugi. “It was my impression that it was more important for them to have their weapons and their ceremonial costumes.”

...I hope the radiation sterilizes them.

[Russell]

How could the clothes become irradiated when they were stored indoors?

[matsuki]

Since when do Japanese close their windows?

[Coligny]

How could the clothes become irradiated when they were stored indoors?

for the same reason I got shielded walls and doors in the X-Ray room...

Japanese House: paper

PenetratingRad.gif

Plus the lack of containement of the reactors. (concrete dust and else)