Most of you will by now have seen the video of Nuclear Boy and his tummy problems. The media artist Kazuhiko Hachyia and the community have created a simultaneously hilarious and touching PA-style film which explains in a child-friendly way what’s going on at Fukushima. Imagine the confusion and fear experienced by children in the region. This film is a great way to explain in a non-threatening way what’s happening at Fukushima.

The animation may seem odd to grown-ups, but it takes its subject matter very seriously. And Hachyia does a great job in accurately conveying technical information in a seemingly playful way. In fact, I found the animation to be much more competent than some of the public media output.

Now, to reinforce the message and to encourage all of us to donate to earthquake relief efforts, I have created paper models of Nuclear Boy, Three Mile Island Boy and Chernobyl Boy. All three of them look rather unhappy, which isn’t surprising considering their condition.

Three Miles Island Boy has since recovered from his tummy problems, but he is still quite traumatized by the memories:

And so are we. But much worse off is Chernobyl Boy, who ‘literally pooped in the classroom’, as Hachiya put it bluntly but accurately.

Well, and Nuclear Boy – Fukushima – is still fighting the disease.

So far, he did a good job of preventing the worst and ‘keeping it in’. Let’s all hope that he pulls through! And in the meantime, think of the many thousand victims of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan: Please donate generously. Even though Japan is a rich country, the sheer dimensions of this catastrophe require our combined efforts. Here is a list with pointers to charity organizations:

japanearthquakedonations.org

You can easily print out and build all three models yourself. Just download the PDFs below, and you are good to go. And if you are the lucky owner of a Craft Robo, I have prepared an extra PDF and GSD file as well.

Nuclear boy: PDF, PDF+GSD, CDR

Chernobyl boy: PDF, PDF+GSD, CDR

Three mile island boy: PDF, PDF+GSD, CDR

I should add some details on the creation of the original animation Hashyia told me: The whole thing started as a collection of posts in which he tried to explain the disaster to his wife and child. The posts were picked up and retweeted, and at some point they were turned into a manga, and from there into an animation.

So a true community effort, and in my mind a very brilliant one. I’d be happy if the above paper models were considered a modest contribution…

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