The Macksey Journal
Abstract
After the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011, anti-nuclear movements and discourse in response to the risks of nuclear energy reached their height. Despite the 2011 nuclear meltdown and the following anti-nuclear movements, the Japanese government ruled by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) decided to resume operations of 9 nuclear power plants in 2015. Therefore, I am interested in the weaknesses and limitations of anti-nuclear discourses in Japan that cannot counter the government's energy policy. Through a critical analysis of discourses of Japanese leftist thinkers, such as SEALDs (a student activist organization against LDP-ruled government) and former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi who argue against the use of nuclear energy, this presentation claims that anti-nuclear discourses in Japan repeat the same rhetoric and logical structures that the pro-nuclear discourse uses. These rhetoric and logical structures include fideism and dependency on "life without a gift." After looking at the limitations of Japanese anti-nuclear discourses, the presentation applies contemporary thoughts of Japanese philosophers on fideism and post-truth (Masaya Chiba), and desire for a "life without gift" (Shinichi Nakazawa and Koichiro Kokubun) to reconstruct anti-nuclear discourse. Thus, this presentation does not stay in a Foucault-like discourse analysis that reveals the power relations between pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear narratives, but it uses the power relations to halt the reproduction of the same type of discourses and rethink of an alternative.
Recommended Citation
Ishikawa, Shogo
(2020)
"A Critical Analysis of Anti-Nuclear Discourse in Japan after March 2011,"
The Macksey Journal: Vol. 1
, Article 37.
Available at:
https://www.mackseyjournal.org/publications/vol1/iss1/37
Included in
Japanese Studies Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
