Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on Kamei Fumio's anti-nuclear documentary film entitled The World Is Terrified (Sekai wa kyōfu suru, 1957) and discusses about the expressions of radiation exposure from the perspective on social movement and social construction of suffering.

Paper long abstract:

How did Japanese people express their fear of nuclear weapon, nuclear power plant, and radiation? There are a variety of expressions regarding nuclear fear. As it is well known, it was after the U.S. occupation when the visual images of atomic bomb casualties were shown in Japanese mass media (August 1952 issue of Asahi Graph). Soon afterwards, a Japanese tuna fishing boat Daigo Fukuryū Maru suffered radioactive fallout (white ashes contain strong radioactivity and soon dubbed as the "ashes of death") resulted from the American nuclear testing in Bikini atoll. This incident led to a Japanese anti nuclear movement in a national level. With this movement, many concerns regarding the danger of radiation exposure emerged in Japanese media. Among them was a documentary film The World Is Terrified: The Reality of the "Ash of Death" (Sekai wa kyōfu suru: Shino hai no shōtai, 1957) directed by Fumio Kamei. This film had a motivation to convey the fear of radioactive fallout and nuclear weapons. The film was made with widely support by Japanese scientists and there were plenty of scientific explanations about the danger of radiation exposure. It also carried out the images of malformed children of Hiroshima. This resulted in the press discussions regarding the freedom of expression and the discrimination of hibakusha. By analyzing how Kamei conveyed the fear of radiation exposure and the responses to the film from critics, activists, and scientists, this paper will discuss about the expressions of radiation exposure from the perspective on social movement and the social construction of suffering.