Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the process through which nuclear power plants are embedded in political, economic, and social contexts in Japan. Historical analysis and discourse analysis on official reports found the politics of “unexpected” statements and segregation between sites with and without plants

Paper long abstract:

To analyze the process through which nuclear power plants are embedded in political, economic, and social contexts in Japan, this paper first deals with a brief history on nuclear power plants in Japan and explore cultural acceptance of nuclear energy, the role of nuclear energy in the political system, and the status of the nuclear industry. Then I will examine the politics of "unexpected" or "beyond expectation" discourse using reports by the National Diet, by the Cabinet and by Independent Investigation Commission to survey the source of legitimate expertise in this domain. Furthermore, this paper deals with the communication disaster after the accidents as well as public debate in Japanese society to analyze the role of media and the culture of public debate over complex techno-scientific issues. From these analyses, we can determine that segregation was established between sites that accepted nuclear power plants before the 1970s and sites without nuclear power plants. After the accidents of March 11, 2011, this segregation expanded between these sites as well as within each site. In addition, discussions about whether to consider the accidents as universal lessons from Fukushima or to regard the accidents as culturally specific leads us to a discussion on technological culture with relevance to techno-orientalism.