I randomly downloaded this music from a blog called Big Head Stevenson from a band called Lucky Dragons from their album called Dream Island Laughing Language. It sounded kind of sliced up minimal experimental ambient electronic with a hint of glitch. I was pretty into it, so I decided to find out their story. It said in their bio that they borrowed the name of their band from a Japanese tuna fishing boat named Lucky Dragon 5 that was inadvertently caught in the fallout from a nuclear bomb test the U.S. was conducting on and around the island of Bikini Atoll, one of the Micronesian Islands. The ship was later laid to rest on an artificial island the Japanese created for the purpose of dumping trash. They named it "Dream Island", perhaps the most tragically ironic name a landfill has ever had the privilege of holding. The Lucky Dragons took the name of their album from that island. It really works, in a way, to play one of the youtube propaganda films below while the music above is still going on. Try the second song "Desert Rose" with the very bottom film playing. Then play the third song "Mirror Friends" while the first video is on at middle volume level. It is SPOOKY how well it fits over, especially when you hear the U.S. soldier telling the Bikinians "Alright now James, will you tell them that the United States government, now, wants to turn this great destructive force into something good for mankind."
The 23 crew members of Lucky Dragon 5 suffered from bleeding gums, pains in the eyes, nausea, and other complications from acute radiation syndrome. I could find no mention about their tuna. So a massive scandal ensued in Japan. Out of this scandal arose the mutant creature of Godzilla, and the film. Inspired by the incident, in the story of Godzilla, the monster was said to be mutated and awakened by the detonation of this hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in 1954.
In the West, knowledge of the nuclear tests happening on Micronesia inspired the bikini swimsuit. The name of the bikini was taken directly from the island that only became famous because it was massively assaulted with H-bombs. The first model of bikini was named the Atome, after the smallest particle of matter (that someone could wear on the body without being considered naked). They were also hoping that the explosion of excitement caused by scantily clad women suddenly running around on beaches all around the world with this new form of swimwear would match the energy of a nuclear blast, ostensibly in terms of monetary return.
The indigenous inhabitants of Bikini Atoll lived a simple life eating fish, shellfish, bananas, and coconuts before they were "relocated" so the U.S. could blow the FUCK out of their island to perfect a bomb that could blow the FUCK out of the world. They probably would have never dreamed that women would be wearing clothes named after their island to cover their breasts and crotches. Nor would they have imagined that their tiny lands and waters would be the birthplace of a gargantuan city-consuming lizard dead-set on demolishing Japan.
The coconuts and bananas and other food crops sprouting out the ground are now still very much contaminated with radioactive residue.
"And thus the natives expressed to the people of the United States their welcome. Despite the fact the the island of Bikini may be utterly destroyed come July the 1st. But to the natives, in their simplicity, and their pleasantness, and their courtesy, they're more than willing to cooperate. Although they don't understand the world of nuclear energy ANYMORE THAN WE DO (emphasis added). And though they have no way, of understanding what the test is all about." --from propaganda film below
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