Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic observations of a variety of legal, political and social conflicts over the question of responsibility in the aftermath of the nuclear accident in Japan, this paper examines the dual working of ‘responsibility’ in the formation of subjectivities in post-311 Japan.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the dual working of 'responsibility' in the formation of subjectivities in post-WWII, post-economic growth and now post-nuclear disaster in Japan. As citizens of a post-affluence, post-growth society, people in Japan have been increasingly interpellated by the ideology of 'self-responsibility' (jiko-sekinin), which summons them to respond to and embrace a moral imperative to become strong and self-reliant individuals who can survive the ruthlessly competitive, neoliberal conditions, not in need of care or protection from the State. On the other hand, for certain institutions such as the State and large corporations, 'responsibility' asserts itself in its inapplicability and exemption, and as a ground to exonerate these institutions from being accountable for their (mis)deeds. In order to document and analyse this double life of responsibility and the role it plays in the remaking of subjectivities in post-disaster Japan, I have been observing a variety of legal, political and social conflicts arising around the idea of responsibility particularly around the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant. This paper first demonstrates the ways in which 'responsibility' as a moral imperative has selectively interpellated people and institutions in post-WWII Japan. It then examines how it is currently reinscribing the relationship between the State and its subjects. Finally, it also ponders the possibility and space for unmaking the pervasive and dual working of responsibility through new social movements and changing forms of civic engagement.