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Nuclear Nationalism and Fukushima

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Matthew Penney
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Abstract

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Despite the description of the March 11, 2011 disaster as “outside safety expectations”, there were multiple warnings from Japanese scientists, writers, activists, and international bodies that a large earthquake and tsunami could cripple Japan's nuclear plants. This article examines how assumptions of nuclear safety remained strong in Japan from the 1950s until the 2000s, even after numerous accidents that demonstrated inadequate oversight, and ties these assumptions to technological nationalism at the heart of Japan's conservative political culture.

Keywords

nuclear powernationalismtechnologyindustryconservative politics in JapanFukushima Daiichi accidentamakudari,TEPCO
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 11 , March 2012 , e2
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 2012

References

Notes

1 Toyoda Aritsune, Nihon no genpatsu gijutsu ha sekai wo kaeru (Tokyo: Soudensha, 2010).

2 Ibid., cover.

3 Ibid., p. 46.

4 Ibid., p. 129.

5 This paper uses “technological nationalism” to mean a facet of Japan's economic-based postwar nationalist discourse that related Japan's imagined national “quality” with the relative level of Japanese technology. Terms such as “technological nationalism” or “technonationalism” are more commonly used to mean the assumption that technological autonomy is necessary for national security. See Gregory P. Corning, Japan and the Politics of TechnoGlobalism (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004).

6 “Fukushima genpatsu no jiko, Bei NRC ga 20nen mae ni keishou - Hijouyou hatsudenki ni risuku,” Bloomberg.co.jp, March 16, 2011, [link].

7 For links to news reports on TEPCO's fraudulent reports, see Tim Shorrock, “TEPCO's Shady History,” timshorrock.com, March 14, 2011, [link].

8 Dennis Normile, “Scientific Consensus on Great Quake Came Too Late,” Science, Vol. 332, No. 6025, April 1, 2011, [link].

9 “Chiri jishin ga keishou: Genpatsu no reikyakusui kakuho dekinu osore,” Shimbun Akahata, March 1, 2010, [link].

10 “Fukushima genpatsu 10ki no taishin anzensei no soutenken nado wo motomeru moshiire,” Nihon Kyosanto Fukushima-ken Gidan, July 24, 2007, [link].

11 “IAEA kara no Nihon no furui genpatsu taishin shishin he no keikoku wo mushi,” Sankei Shimbun, March 16, 2011.

12 “Fusei zokushutsu no Tokyo Denryoku,” Shimbun Akahata, September 16, 2007, [link].

13 “Genpatsu shin kensa seido: Fukushima Daiichi, Daini he no tekiyou ninka,” Japan Press Network, December 13, 2008, [link].

14 “Genpatsu mane - 09nen ‘Gensan Kyoukai” kaiin kigyou kenkin: Jimin 7oku, Minshu 2300man,” Shimbun Akahata, September 18, 2011, [link].

15 “Touden: Kanryou amakudari 50nin ijou,” Mainichi Shimbun, September 25, 2011, [link].

16 Hirose Takashi, Fukushima genpatsu merutodaun (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun Shuppan, 2011).

17 “Senmonka no iken wo mushi shi, sekai saidaikyuu genpatsu taishin tesuto setsubi ha Koizumi seiken baikyaku,” AREA, April 4, 2011. “Robotto taikoku no na ga naku, genpatsu sakugyou ha Oubei tayori,” Shuukan Shincho, April 14, 2011.

18 “‘Reberu 7’ Genjitsu wa sozo wo koeru,” Shukan Gendai, April 25, 2011, [link]. As has been pointed out in numerous sources, the amount of radiation released in the Fukushima disaster was a fraction of that released from the Chernobyl plant. See [link].

19 “Cherunobuiri - Ima koso ‘shijou saiaku’ ni kyoukun manabe,” Yomiuri Shimbun, April 25, 2011 [link].

20 Uekusa Yoshiteru, [001/001]96, Shuugiin Kagaku Gijutsu Iinkai, 3gou, March 23, 1982.

21 Tokai Kisaburou, [011/028] 156, Shuugiin Monbukagaku Iinkai, 14gou, May 28, 2007.

22 Nakasone Yasuhiro, [011/254]7, Shuugiin Yosan Iinkai, 7gou, February 3, 1950.

23 Takeda Tooru, ‘Kaku’ Ron (Tokyo: Keisou Shobou, 2002), p. 45.

24 Ibid., p. 48.

25 Ibid., p. 48.

26 Ibid., p. 49.27 Ibid., pp. 50-4.28 Ibid., p. 56. The American examples were already controversial before World War II. Such concerns were largely overlooked in the Yomiuri promotion efforts.

29 Ibid., p. 116.

30 Daniel Aldrich, Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008).

31 Yagi Tadashi, Genpatsu ha sabetsu de ugoku (Kyouei Bunka-sha, 1989), p. 15.

32 Ibid., p. 130.

33 Ibid., pp. 130-1.

34 Uchihashi Katsuo, “Nuclear Power is ‘Power without Consent’”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, trans. Matthew Penney, July 9, 2011, [link].

35 Kamata Satoshi, Genpatsu rettou wo iku (Tokyo: Shuueisha, 2001), p. 236.

36 Ibid., p. 238.

37 Genshiryoku Shiryou Jouhou Shitsu, Kenshou Touden Genpatsu Toraburu Kakushi (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2002).

38 Inoue Hiroshi (ed.), Hangenpatsu roudou undou, (Tokyo: Satsuki-sha, 1982), p. 27.

39 Ibid., p. 25.

40 Ibid., p. 29.

41 Ibid., p. 43.

42 Ibid., p. 45.

43 Higuchi Kenji, Genpatsu hibaku rettou (Tokyo: San-ichi Shobou, 1987), p. 41.

44 Ibid., p. 58.

45 Ibid., p. 50.

46 Ibid., p. 50.

47 Ibid., p. 43.

48 Ibid., pp. 43-44.

49 Hachi-gatsu Shokan (ed.), Genpatsu to tatakau - Iwasa genpatsu hibaku saiban no kiroku (Tokyo: Hachi-gatsu Shokan), p. 83.

50 Ibid., p. 83.

51 Ibid., p. 84. For an assessment of Japanese GDP growth rates in the 1960s and 1970s, see David Flath, The Japanese Economy, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 110.

52 Tanaka Mitsuhiko, Genpatsu ha naze kiken ka (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1990), pp. 166-9.

53 Higuchi Kenji, Genpatsu (Tokyo: Orijin Shuppan Sentaa, 1979), p. 155.

54 For a discussion of divergent medical and scientific approaches to radiation and public health, see Matthew Penney and Mark Selden, “What Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, May 23, 2011, [link].

55 Hirose Takashi, Kiken na hanashi - Cherunobuiri to Nihon no shukumei (Tokyo: Hachi-gatsu Shokan, 1987), p. 265.

56 As discussed by Shinzaka Kazuo, [073/075]120, Sangiin Gijutsu Tokubetsu Iinkai, 3gou, March 13, 1991.

57 Terajima Jitsurou, [499/679]142, Sangiin Kokusai Mondai ni kan suru Chousa Kai, 2gou, February 4, 1998.

58 Andou Tetsuo, [481/679]143, Shuugiin Kagaku Gijutsu Iinkai, 2gou, September 11, 1998.

59 Nanasawa Kiyoshi, Toukaimura Rinkai Jiko he no michi (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2005), p. 152.

60 Ibid., p. 156.

61 Hirokawa Ryuichi, Genpatsu hibaku (Tokyo: Koudansha, 2001), p. 38

62 Ibid., p. 38.

63 Koizumi Junichiro, [040/042] 151, Shuugiin Yosan Iinkai, 18gou, May 28, 2001.

64 Horiuchi Mitsuo, [001/001] 142, Shuugiin Yosan Iinkai, 3gou, March 20, 1998.

65 Nanasawa, Toukaimura, p. 224.

66 Horiuchi, Shuugiin Yosan Iinkai.

67 Niigata Nippou-sha (ed.), Genpatsu to jishin (Tokyo: Koudansha, 2009), p. 258.

68 Ibid., p. 259.

69 Ibid., p. 260.

70 Ibid., p. 260.

71 David E. Nye, “Technology and the Production of Difference”, in American Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 3, September, 2006, p. 598.

72 Niigata Nippou-sha, Genpatsu to jishin, p. 260.

73 Nye,” Technology”, p. 598.

74 Genpatsu to Jishin, pp. 16-17.

75 Ibid., p. 23.

76 [link]

77 Naoshima Masayuki, [003/020]174, Shuugiin Yosan Iinkai, 2gou, February 26, 2010.

78 Motozawa Jirou, “Touden no kyogaku koukokuhi”, Jyanarisuto Doumei, May 12, 2011, [link].

79 Tokyo Electric has removed the Touden Ken ni kike series from its website; this paragraph is based on notes taken after surveying the series on March 15-16, 2011.

80 Koizumi Junichiro, [010/042]162, Sangiin Honkaigi, 2gou, January 25, 2005.

81 Hiranuma Takeo, [039/042]151, Sangiin Yosan Iinkai, No. 16, May 30, 2001.

82 Japan Atomic Energy Commission, “Genshiryoku ni kan suru tokubetsu yoron chousa,” 2009, [link].

83 “Genpatsu ‘herasu-yameru’ 41%”, Asahi Shimbun, April 18, 2011, [link].

84 In an October 16, 2011, editorial, the Asahi Shimbun editors reflect on their nuclear coverage, asking whether they have consistently put forward alternative information or been merely reactive. See “March disaster raised questions about newspaper reporting,” Asahi Shimbun, October 16, 2011, [link].

85 See, for example Hirose Takashi, Genshiro jigen bakudan (Tokyo: Daiyamondo-sha, 2010). The title translates as “Nuclear cores are ticking bombs.” The work is subtitled “The Japanese archipelago trembles before earthquakes.” Hirose even takes a prophetic tone, writing “this is what I most want to communicate to the Japanese people.”

86 The Huffington Post comments on the explosion of Tweeting after March 11. See Catharine Smith, “Twitter User Statistics Show Stunning Growth,” Huffington Post, March 14, 2011, [link]. For more information about the Japanese Twitter environment, see PR Web, “The Effect of Social Media and the Disaster Relief Effort Following the March 11 Earthquake in Japan”, Yahoo! News, July 27, 2011, [link].

87 See [link].

88 See the website here [link].

89 Genshiryoku ni kan suru tokubetsu yoron chousa, November 26, 2009, [link].

90 Include link to Japan Focus web resources page.

91 “Shorai-teki ni ‘datsugenpatsu’ sansei 74%”, Asahi Shimbun, June 13, 2011, [link].