Paper short abstract:

This paper looks into how Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers helped to ensure public acceptance about nuclear energy at a time when fear of atomic radiation was at its height, after the Daigo Fukuryû Maru was exposed to radioactive fallout from a thermonuclear test conducted in the Bikini Atoll in 1954.

Paper long abstract:

In the Aftermath of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the so-called activist role played by newspapers in promoting civil nuclear energy in Japan has received criticism. Simultaneously, the fact that despite the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan had one of the largest nuclear generating capacity was (re)discovered, to the astonishment of many. It is however the Daigo Fukuryû Maru incident in 1954 that had the biggest impact on the representations of nuclear energy in post-war Japan. The fishing boat that was exposed to radioactive fallout from a thermonuclear test conducted in the Bikini Atoll ushered a new era overshadowed by "atomic tuna" and "radioactive rain", when Japan would live in fear of the after-effects from "death's ashes". The incident paradoxically coincided with the approval of the first budget dedicated to nuclear energy development in the country, which included the construction of the very first Japanese nuclear reactor.

This paper looks into this turning point period to analyze how nuclear energy was presented and represented in the main newspapers, the Asahi Shinbun and the Yomiuri Shinbun. It will essentially deal with the following question: how did those newspapers, well-known for their vested interest in the development of civil nuclear energy, helped to ensure public acceptance at a time when fear of atomic radiation was at its height?

The analysis will thus show how both newspapers purposely distinguished between military and civil usage through a Manichean rhetoric that stressed out the dangers of atomic radiations - possibly leading to the end of Humankind on the one hand, and the bright promises of civil nuclear energy on the other. It will also point out how the Asahi Shinbun and the Yomiuri Shinbun made use of the scientific discourse around the health crisis that followed the Daigo Fukuryû Maru incident to familiarize their readers not only with the terminology of nuclear energy, but also with the technical sophistication of Japanese scientists, thus spreading the idea that Japan was able to set off on its nuclear journey.