3.11

J. Samuels Richard

Description

On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by the shockwaves of a 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake originating less than 50 miles off its eastern coastline. The most powerful earthquake to have hit Japan in recorded history, it produced a devastating tsunami with waves reaching heights of over 130 feet that in turn caused an unprecedented multireactor meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This triple catastrophe claimed almost 20,000 lives, destroyed whole towns, and will ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction. In 3.11, Richard Samuels offers the first broad scholarly assessment of the disaster's impact on Japan's government and society. The events of March 2011 occurred after two decades of social and economic malaise-as well as considerable political and administrative dysfunction at both the national and local levels-and resulted in national soul-searching. Political reformers saw in the tragedy cause for hope: an opportunity for Japan to remake itself. Samuels explores Japan's post-earthquake actions in three key sectors: national security, energy policy, and local governance. For some reformers, 3.11 was a warning for Japan to overhaul its priorities and political processes. For others, it was a once-in-a-millennium event; they cautioned that while national policy could be improved, dramatic changes would be counterproductive. Still others declared that the catastrophe demonstrated the need to return to an idealized past and rebuild what has been lost to modernity and globalization.Samuels chronicles the battles among these perspectives and analyzes various attempts to mobilize popular support by political entrepreneurs who repeatedly invoked three powerfully affective themes: leadership, community, and vulnerability. Assessing reformers' successes and failures as they used the catastrophe to push their particular agendas-and by examining the earthquake and its aftermath alongside prior disasters in Japan, China, and the United States-Samuels outlines Japan's rhetoric of crisis and shows how it has come to define post-3.11 politics and public policy.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of Asia
• Japan
• Central

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780801468032
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

3.11

3.

11

Disaster and Change in Japan

R i c h a r d J . S a m u e l s

Cornell University Press

Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2013 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Samuels, Richard J.  3.11 : disaster and change in Japan / by Richard J. Samuels.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801452000 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Disaster relief—Political aspects–Japan. 2. Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan, 2011—Political aspects. 3. Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Japan, 2011—Political aspects. 4. Japan—Politics and government–21st century. I. Title. II. Title: Three eleven.  HV555.J3S26 2013  363.34'9480952090512—dc23  2012037621

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the people of Tohoku.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Contents

Preface

The Status Quo Ante and 3.11

Never Waste a Good Crisis

Historical and Comparative Guidance

Dueling Security Narratives Debating Energy Policy Repurposing Local Government Conclusion

Notes References Index

vii

ix

1 24 46 80 110 151 180

201 245 267

Preface

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

—Edo Era aphorism

On 11 March 2011, Japan moved eight feet closer to North America, the earth’s axis shifted, and the world turned upside down for 128 million Japa nese. Each of us watched in horror as twenty thousand people were washed away by a devastating tsunami just minutes after a 9.0magnitude earth quake shifted the seafloor off the Sanriku coast in the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan. And then, in slower motion, we witnessed the melt down of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, the displacement of 110,000 residents, and the spread of an invisible radioactive terror (real, even if only imagined) across the archipelago. This quake, tsunami, and meltdown— a triple catastrophe with no precedent—formally called the Great Eastern JapanDisaster(Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) soon became known simply as “3.11.” But 3.11 was hardly the first earthquake to shake Japan. The antiquarian booksellers of Jimbochoin downtown Tokyo bulge with evidence of previ ous disasters and how they were characterized in the popular media of their day. In one of my favorite haunts, there is a cache of several thousand photo postcards in a crate labeled simply “shinsai” (disasters). Most of them are photos of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. They include views from the hills above Ueno of the flattened plain below, photos of smoldering buildings in the Ginza andOtemachi, and a powerfully symbolic image of the gate of the mighty Finance Ministry with nothing left standing behind it. Photos of citizens streaming away from the fires, of officials organizing relief supplies, of the young crown prince (later the emperor Hirohito) surveying the dam age with municipal officials and military officers, and of charred corpses are all available. They provide horrifying parallels—literal and metaphorical—to the most recent crisis.

ix