This article strives to give a voice to survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake who suffered from the tsunami but not the nuclear disaster; their invisibility makes the case that these survivors are a separate group of Japan's “abandoned people.” They have been poorly represented in discussions on Japan's future energy policy; Thompson uses individual accounts to explain the residents’ “short and long-term needs, the full social, cultural, and economic impact of the tsunami disaster, and the future prospects of the region.”