Around the World

It was an unusually warm night in Tokyo on April 27th, 1986, as I stood staring out over Tokyo Bay, when suddenly I heard excited voices speaking Russian, and watched while a number of Soviet seamen desperately dumped boxes of something in jars, which were glass because I could hear those landing closer to shore breaking! When the seamen had disappeared, I went down to shore where I found one glass jar which had survived intact. In the moonlight I could see the Soviet product destined for Japanese market was “Bilberry Jam.”

If you haven’t already guessed, here’s why the Soviets that warm April evening in Tokyo Bay had so desperately dumped that Bilberry Jam, which I later learned had been grown, shipped from near Russian city of Pripyat. Post-Chernobyl nuclear reacter disaster on April 26th the Bilberry Jam must have been shipped to Japan (while disaster yet a secret in Russia). On the 27th, the Soviet cargo ship must have been alerted, ordered to dump the possibly radiation contaminated jam…on 28th the nuclear disaster had become worldwide news as evidence of rapidly spreading of radiation was recorded!