Hostname: page-component-669899f699-vbsjw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-29T06:22:42.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Managing The Days: Personal Responsibility and the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Mick Broderick  and
Robert Jacobs
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The recently released eight-part Japanese docudrama THE DAYS (Netflix 2023) ostensibly concerns the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, nuclear reactor explosions and subsequent meltdowns at Fukushima. We highlight the problematic rendering of this particular Fukushima screen history by analysing THE DAYS' narrative veracity and reliance on ‘heroic’ disaster tropes, absent-presences, the glossing over of the radiological legacy, and the context of related nuclear accident teledramas and docudrama re-enactments.

Keywords

Fukushimameltdownradiationmanagementresponsibility
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 21 , Issue 10 , October 2023 , e4
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2023

References

Anon., 2019. “Chernobyl, Episode Guide.” Internet Movie Data Base. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7366338/(Accessed 25 August 2023).Google Scholar
Anon., 2021. “The Economist explains: How the LDP dominates Japan's politics.” The Economist. 28 October. https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/10/28/how-the-ldp-dominates-japans-politicsGoogle Scholar
Anon., 2022. “Chernobyl, Episode Guide.” Internet Movie Data Base. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14780354/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3 (Accessed 25 August 2023).Google Scholar
Anon., 2022. “Meltdown: Three Mile Island, Episode Guide.” Internet Movie Data Base. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19757508/(Accessed 23 August 2023).Google Scholar
Anon., 2023. “Koji Yakusho Biogrphy,” Internet Movie Data Base. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0945131/bio/(Accessed 23 August 2023).Google Scholar
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2022. “Tokyo court orders former TEPCO bosses to pay more than $139 billion in damages over Fukushima disaster,” 13 July, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/fukushima-power-plant-former-bosses-to-pay-billions-in-damages/101236308 (Accessed 25 August 2023).Google Scholar
Burke, Matthew M., 2016. “16 US ships that aided in Operation Tomodachi still contaminated with radiation.” Stars and Stripes. 13 March. https://www.stripes.com/news/16-us-ships-that-aided-in-operation-tomodachi-still-contaminated-with-radiation-1.399094#.WRK9baN51D-.twitter (Accessed 28 August 2023).Google Scholar
Holmer Nadesan, Majia, 2013. Fukushima and the Privatization of Risk. London: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Atomic Energy Agency, 2023. “IAEA Finds Japan's Plans to Release Treated Water into the Sea at Fukushima Consistent with International Safety Standards.” 4 July. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-finds-japans-plans-to-release-treated-water-into-the-sea-at-fukushima-consistent-with-international-safety-standards (Accessed 15 August 2023)Google Scholar
Iwaki Citizens' Radiation Measurement Center. 2023. “Activities of ”Mothers' Radiation Lab Fukushima.” https://tarachineiwaki.org/english (Accessed 28 August 2023)Google Scholar
Watch, Nuclear, 2014. “Japan Nuclear Ginza 1995 full documentary.” Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPD_YeOAJys (Accessed 28 August 2023)Google Scholar
Kaiser, P., 2011. “Cold Shutdown Conditions Declared at Fukushima.” International Atomic Energy Agency. 16 December. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/cold-shutdown-conditions-declared-fukushima (Accessed 27 August 2023)Google Scholar
Kaufmann, D. and Penciakova, 2011. “Preventing Nuclear Meltdown: Assessing Regulatory Failure in Japan and the United States,” Brookings Institution. 1 April. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/preventing-nuclear-meltdown-assessing-regulatory-failure-in-japan-and-the-united-states/(Accessed 20 August 2023)Google Scholar
McCurry, Justin, 2011. “Fukushima suffers setback as officials detect signs of nuclear fission.” The Guardian. 2 November. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/02/fukushima-setback-signs-nuclear-fission (Accessed 28 August 2023)Google Scholar
Yamamoto, A., 2016. “Fukushima Operator Admits It Didn't Reveal Meltdown for Months.” 25 February NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fukushima-operator-admits-it-didn-t-reveal-meltdown-months-n525431 (Accessed 27 August 2023)Google Scholar