A Body in Fukushima

A Body in Fukushima
Author: Eiko Otake
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0819580252

On March 11, 2011 the most powerful earthquakes in Japan's recorded history devastated the north east of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami with waves as high as 130 feet and traveled as far as six miles inland. As a result, three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex experienced level seven meltdowns. The triple disaster, known as 3.11, had 15,899 confirmed deaths with 3529 people still missing. On five separate journeys, Japanese-born performer and dancer Eiko Otake and historian and photographer William Johnston, visited multiple locations across the Fukushima prefecture. The powerful photographs, selected from tens of thousands that Otake and Johnston created, document the irradiated landscape and how Eiko placed her lone body in those spaces. Each photograph is a performance across time and space, rewarding a viewer's intent gaze. The book includes essays and commentary reflecting on art, disaster, grief, and violated dignity of an irradiated Fukushima.

Fukushima Fiction

Fukushima Fiction
Author: Rachel DiNitto
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-05-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0824877977

Fukushima Fiction introduces readers to the powerful literary works that have emerged out of Japan’s triple disaster, now known as 3/11. The book provides a broad and nuanced picture of the varied literary responses to this ongoing tragedy, focusing on “serious fiction” (junbungaku), the one area of Japanese cultural production that has consistently addressed the disaster and its aftermath. Examining short stories and novels by both new and established writers, author Rachel DiNitto effectively captures this literary tide and names it after the nuclear accident that turned a natural disaster into an environmental and political catastrophe. The book takes a spatial approach to a new literary landscape, tracing Fukushima fiction thematically from depictions of the local experience of victims on the ground, through the regional and national conceptualizations of the disaster, to considerations of the disaster as history, and last to the global concerns common to nuclear incidents worldwide. Throughout, DiNitto shows how fiction writers played an important role in turning the disaster into a narrative of trauma that speaks to a broad readership within and outside Japan. Although the book examines fiction about all three of the disasters—earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns—DiNitto contends that Fukushima fiction reaches its critical potential as a literature of nuclear resistance. She articulates the stakes involved, arguing that serious fiction provides the critical voice necessary to combat the government and nuclear industry’s attempts to move the disaster off the headlines as the 2020 Olympics approach and Japan restarts its idle nuclear power plants. Rigorous and sophisticated yet highly readable and relevant for a broad audience, Fukushima Fiction is a critical intervention of humanities scholarship into the growing field of Fukushima studies. The work pushes readers to understand the disaster as a global crisis and to see the importance of literature as a critical medium in a media-saturated world. By engaging with other disasters—from 9/11 to Chernobyl to Hurricane Katrina—DiNitto brings Japan’s local and national tragedy to the attention of a global audience, evocatively conveying fiction’s power to imagine the unimaginable and the unforeseen.

Ichi-F

Ichi-F
Author: Kazuto Tatsuta
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Total Pages: 566
Release: 2017
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1682336050

On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the largest earthquake in its modern history. The 9.0-magnitude quake threw up a devastating tsunami that wiped away entire towns, and caused, in the months afterward, three nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Altogether, it was the costliest natural disaster in human history. This is not the story of that disaster. This is the story of a man who took a job. Kazuto Tatsuta was an amateur artist who signed onto the dangerous task of cleaning up the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, which the workers came to call "Ichi-F." This is the story of that challenging work, of the trials faced by the local citizens, and of the unique camaraderie that built up between the mostly blue-collar workers who had to face the devious and invisible threat of radiation on a daily basis. After six months, Tatsuta’s body had absorbed the maximum annual dose of radiation allowed by regulations, and he was forced to take a break from the work crew, giving him the time to create this unprecedented, unauthorized, award-winning view of daily life at Fukushima Daiichi.

Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima

Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima
Author: Deirdre Langeland
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2021-02-23
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 162672699X

Deirdre Langeland's Meltdown explores for middle grade readers the harrowing story of the deadly earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that caused the 2011 Fukushima power plant disaster On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown. For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors. This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction.

Full Body Burden

Full Body Burden
Author: Kristen Iversen
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307955656

“An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.”—Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks A shocking account of the government’s attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community’s vain search for justice—soon to be a feature documentary Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America." Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving.

Post-Fukushima Activism

Post-Fukushima Activism
Author: Azumi Tamura
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2018-05-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351654063

Political disillusionment is widespread in contemporary society. In Japan, the search for the ‘outside’ of a stagnant reality sometimes leads marginalised young people to a disastrous image of social change. The Fukushima nuclear disaster was the realisation of such an image, triggering the largest wave of activism since the 1960s. The disaster revealed the interconnected nature of contemporary society. The protesters regretted that their past indifference to politics prefigured such a catastrophe and became motivated to protest in the streets. They did not share any totalising ideology or predetermined collective identity. Instead, the activism provided a space for each body to encounter others who forced them to feel and think, which also introduced an ethical dimension to their politics. In this book, Azumi Tamura proposes a concept of politics as a series of endless experiments based on creative responses to unexpected forces. Instead of searching for a transcendental reference for politics, she investigates an immanent force within individuals that motivates them to become involved in political action. Referencing Deleuzian philosophy, Tamura provides a different epistemological and ontological approach to the social movement studies. She suggests social movements themselves generate knowledge about how one may live better in a complex society and where our lives are exposed to uncertainty. This knowledge is neither empirical knowledge, nor normative political theory of ‘how we should live’. Instead, social movements bring affective knowledge into politics as they offer a space for experimenting with ‘how we might live.’ The encounter with such knowledge galvanizes our desire for ‘how we want to live’ and encourages new experiments.

Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident on Fish and Fishing Grounds

Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident on Fish and Fishing Grounds
Author: Kaoru Nakata
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2015-07-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 4431555374

This book presents the results from the Japanese Fisheries Research Agency’s 3-year intensive monitoring of radionuclides in a variety of fish, plankton, benthos, and their living environments after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident in March 2011. The book reveals the dynamics of contamination processes in marine and freshwater fish, mediated by the contamination of water, sediments, and food organisms; it also clarifies the mechanisms by which large variations in the level of contamination occurs among individual fish. Most importantly, the book includes a large amount of original measurement data collected in situ and for the first time assesses diffusion of radiocesium across the Pacific using both in situ data and a numerical simulation model. Also introduced are several new approaches to evaluate the impact of the release of radionuclides, including the measurement of radiation emission from an otolith section to identify the main period of contamination in fish. The FNPP accident represents a rare instance where the environmental radioactivity level was elevated steeply through atmospheric fallout and direct discharge of radioactive water into the sea over a short period of time. Replete with precise scientific data, this book will serve as an important resource for research in fields such as fishery science, oceanography, ecology, and environmentology, and also as a solid basis for protecting fisheries from damage resulting from harmful rumors among the general public.

The Fukushima and Tohoku Disaster

The Fukushima and Tohoku Disaster
Author: School of Societal Safety Sciences
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2017-10-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128129654

The Fukushima and Tohoku Disaster: A Review of the Five-Year Reconstruction Efforts covers the outcome of the response, five years later, to the disasters associated with the Great East Japan earthquake on March 11, 2011. The 3.11 disaster, as it is referred to in Japan, was a complex accident, the likes of which humans had never faced before. This book evaluates the actions taken during and after the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident, for which the Japanese government and people were not prepared. The book also provides recommendations for preparing and responding to disasters for those working and living in disaster-prone areas, making it a vital resource for disaster managers and government agencies. Includes guidelines for governments, communities and businesses in areas where similar complex disasters are likely to occur Provides information, propositions, suggestions and advice from the people that were involved in making suggestions to the Japanese government Features case studies (both pre- and post-disaster) of three simultaneous disasters: the Great East Japan earthquake, the resulting tsunami, and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster

Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety of U.S. Nuclear Plants

Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety of U.S. Nuclear Plants
Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of U.S. Nuclear Plants
Publisher: National Academy Press
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2014-10-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780309272537

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami sparked a humanitarian disaster in northeastern Japan. They were responsible for more than 15,900 deaths and 2,600 missing persons as well as physical infrastructure damages exceeding $200 billion. The earthquake and tsunami also initiated a severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Three of the six reactors at the plant sustained severe core damage and released hydrogen and radioactive materials. Explosion of the released hydrogen damaged three reactor buildings and impeded onsite emergency response efforts. The accident prompted widespread evacuations of local populations, large economic losses, and the eventual shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan. "Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of U.S. Nuclear Plants" is a study of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This report examines the causes of the crisis, the performance of safety systems at the plant, and the responses of its operators following the earthquake and tsunami. The report then considers the lessons that can be learned and their implications for U.S. safety and storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, commercial nuclear reactor safety and security regulations, and design improvements. "Lessons Learned" makes recommendations to improve plant systems, resources, and operator training to enable effective ad hoc responses to severe accidents. This report's recommendations to incorporate modern risk concepts into safety regulations and improve the nuclear safety culture will help the industry prepare for events that could challenge the design of plant structures and lead to a loss of critical safety functions. In providing a broad-scope, high-level examination of the accident, "Lessons Learned" is meant to complement earlier evaluations by industry and regulators. This in-depth review will be an essential resource for the nuclear power industry, policy makers, and anyone interested in the state of U.S. preparedness and response in the face of crisis situations.

From Trinity to Trinity

From Trinity to Trinity
Author: Kyoko Hayashi
Publisher: Station Hill Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781581771176

FROM TRINITY TO TRINITY recounts the pilgrimage of Japanese atomic-bomb survivor Kyoko Hayashi to the Trinity Site in northern New Mexico, where the world's first atomic bomb test was conducted. Her journey takes her into unfamiliar terrain, both past and present, as she not only confronts American attitudes, disconcertingly detached from the suffering of nuclear destruction, but discovers as well a profound kinship with desert plants and animals, the bomb's first victims. Translator Eiko Otake, a renowned artist in dance (Eiko & Koma), offers further insight into Hayashi's life and work, illuminating how her identity as outsider helped shape her vision. Together author and translator present one woman's transformation from victim to witness, a portrait of endurance as a power of being against all odds.