Nuclear Village and Risk Construction in Japan: A Lesson Learned for Indonesia
Keywords:
nuclear village, nuclear energy, risk construction, JapanAbstract
Japan’s success in the development of nuclear energy cannot be separated from the role of the ‘nuclear village’, a pro-nuclear group comprising experts, bureaucrats, politicians and the mass media. The nuclear village created an image of nuclear energy as ‘safe, cheap and reliable’. Using this nuclear village was one of the strategies used to construct a perception of the risk of nuclear energy. Thus, the acceptance by Japanese people of nuclear energy is an important factor in their support for economic development. However, the Fukushima nuclear accident changed the public’s perception of nuclear energy and the Japanese Government was asked to end the operation of nuclear power plants. The government decided to change energy policy by phasing out nuclear power by the end of year 2030. Conversely, the Fukushima nuclear accident has not impeded the Indonesian Government’s plans to build nuclear power plants. Thus, understanding how the Japanese Government managed nuclear risk is expected to raise Indonesian public awareness of such risks.
References
Aldrich, DP. (2005). ‘The limit of flexible and adaptive institutions: the Japanese Government’s role in nuclear power siting over the post-war period’. In H Lesbirel and S Shaw (eds). Managing conflict in facility siting: an international comparison. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishers. (pp. 109–134).
Aldrich, DP. (2008). Site fights: divisive facilities and civil society in Japan and the West. New York: Cornell University Press.
Amir, S. (2014). ‘Risk state: nuclear politics in an age of ignorance’. In D Kleinman and K Moore. (eds), Handbook of science, technology and society. London: Routledge. (pp. 285–299).
Colignon, R and C Usui. (2001). ‘The resilience of Japan’s iron triangle’. Asian survey, 41(5): 865–895.
Dusinberre, M and DP Aldrich. (2011). ‘Hatoko comes home: civil society and nuclear power in Japan’. Journal of Asian studies, 70(3): 683–705.
Indonesia Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. (2012). Indonesia energy outlook. Jakarta: Indonesia Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Kingston, J. (2011). Contemporary Japan: history, politics and social change since the 1980s. West Sussex: Wiley–Blackwell.
Kushida, K.E. (2012). ‘Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster: narrative, analysis, and recommendation’. Shorenstein APARC working paper. Stanford: The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia–Pacific Research Center.
Lesbirel, HS. (1988). ‘The political economy of substitution policy: Japan’s response to lower oil price’. Pacific affairs, 61(2): 285–302.
Lesbirel, H.S. (1991). ‘Structural adjustment in Japan: terminating “Old King Coal”’. Asian survey, 31(11): 1079–1094.
Lesbirel, H.S. (1998). NIMBY politics in Japan: energy siting and the management of environmental conflict. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Nakamura, A and M Kikuch. (2011). ‘What we know, and what we have not yet learned: triple disasters and the Fukushima nuclear fiasco’. Public administration review, 70(6): 821–977.
Ohno, K. (2005). The economic development of Japan. Tokyo: GRIPS.
Shadrina, E. (2012). ‘Fukushima fallout: gauging the change in Japanese nuclear energy policy’. International journal of disaster risk science, 3(2): 69–83.
The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAICC). (2012). Executive summary. Tokyo: National Diet of Japan.
Usui, C and RA Colignon. (1995). ‘Government elites and amakudari in Japan 1963–1992’. Asian survey, 35(7): 682–698.
Uhlan, E and DL Thomas. (1957). Shoriki: miracle man of Japan. A Biography. New York: Exposition Press.
Wang, Q and X Chen. (2012). ‘Regulatory failures for nuclear safety—the bad example of Japan— implication for the rest of world’. Renewable and sustainable energy review, 16- 2610–2617.
Aldrich, DP. (2011). ‘Future fission: why Japan won’t abandon nuclear power’. Global Asia, 6(2): 64–67. Retrieved from http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~daldrich/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Aldrich-Global-Asia-June-2011.pdf.
Aldrich, DP. (2013). ‘Post-Fukushima nuclear politics in Japan, part 1’. Retrieved from http://themonkeycage.org/2013/04/01/post-fukushima-nuclear-politics-in-japan-part-i/.
CNIC. (1999). ‘Worst accident in Japanese nuclear history’. Nuke info Tokyo, 73. Retrieved from http://www.cnic.jp/english/newsletter/pdffiles/nit73.pdf.
CNIC. (2002). ‘Revelation of endless n-damage cover-ups’. Nuke info Tokyo, 92. Retrieved from http://www.cnic.jp/english/newsletter/pdffiles/nit92.pdf.
Fukue, N. (2011). ‘METI hit for “amakudari” habits that put retirees in TEPCO’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://aws.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/04/19/news/meti-hit-for-amakudari-habits-that-put-retirees-in-tepco/#.UQH_f2dqRVM.
Hamada, K. (2014). ‘Japan approves nuclear restart amid push to close old reactor’. Reuter. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/10/us-japan-nuclear-idUSKBN0H507F20140910.
Japan Times. (2011, May 4). ‘Utilities got 68 exbureaucrats via ”amakudari”’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20110504a1.html.
Japan Times. (2003, June 15). ‘Tepco gives Niigata legislators beer coupons’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20030615a7.html.
Japan Times. (2011, July 24). ‘Utility execs are major LDP donors’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20110724a1.html.
Japan Times. (2012, November 26). ‘Municipal nuclear addiction’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2012/11/26/opinion/municipal-nuclear-addiction/#.UQH9_GdqRVM.
Kingston, J. (2011). ‘Ousting Kan Naoto: the politics of nuclear crisis and renewable energy in Japan’. Asia-Pacific journal, 9(5). Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3610.
Kingston, J. (2012). ‘Japan’s nuclear village’. Asia Pacific journal, 10(1). Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3822.
Kingston, J. (2012). ‘Mismanaging risk and Fukushima nuclear crisis’. Asia-Pacific journal,14(4). Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3724.
Kobori, S. (2009). ‘Japan’s energy policy during the 1950s: reason for rapid switch from coal to oil’. Paper presented at the Asia-Pacific Economic and Business Conference, Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan, 18–20 February. Retrieved from http://apebhconference.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/kobori1.pdf.
McNeill, D. (2012). ‘Fukushima lays bare Japanese media’s ties to top’. Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ fl20120108x3.html.
National Policy Agency of Japan. (2012). ‘Damage situation and police countermeasure associated with 2011 Tohoku district-off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake’. Retrieved from http://www.npa.go.jp/archive/keibi/biki/higaijokyo_e.pdf.
Nemetz, PN, I Verstinky and P Verstinky. (1985). ‘Japan’s energy strategy at the crossroads’. Pacific affairs, 57(4): 553–576.
Oguma, E. (2012). ‘Japan’s nuclear power and antinuclear movement from a socio-historical perspective’. Paper presented at the symposium of Towards Long-term Sustainability: In Response to the 3/11 Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies and Department of Anthropology University of California, Berkeley. April 20–21. Retrieved from http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/pdf/2012.04.20_sustainability_oguma_en.pdf.
Okuda, K. (2012). ‘The introduction of the first nuclear reactor to Japan and Japan–UK relation in the cold war’. Retrieved from http://shotprometheans.wordpress.com/workshops/2012-workshop/manuscripts/okuda-first-nuclear-reactor-in-japan/#_edn1.
Onitsuka, H. (2012). ‘Hooked on nuclear power: Japanese state-local relation and the vicious cycle on nuclear dependence’. Asia–Pacific journal, 10(1). Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Hiroshi-Onitsuka/3677.
Takafumi, Y. (2011). ‘Yasuhiro Nakasone: Learn lessons from Fukushima crisis and continue to promote nuclear energy’. Retrieved from http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201105232599
Takekawa, S. (2012). ‘Drawing a line between peaceful and military use of nuclear power: the Japanese press, 1945–1955’. Asia–Pacific journal, 10(37). Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Shunichi-TAKEKAWA/3823.
World Nuclear Association. (2007). ‘Tokaimura critically accident’. Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf37.html.
Yomiuri Shimbun. (2012, March 27). ‘Reactor’s shutdown “to hurt local economy”’. Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120326004542.htm.
Yoshida, R. (2012). ‘Conflict over handling of nuclear crisis revealed’. Japan Times special report: 3.11 one year on. Kyodo: Japan Times.
Zwigenberg, R. (2012). ‘The coming of a second sun: the 1956 atoms for peace exhibit in Hiroshima and Japan’s embracing nuclear power’. Asia Pacific journal, 10(2) Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/-Ran-Zwigenberg/3685.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Upik Sarjiati
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. This license allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the same terms.
2. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or including it in a book), provided there is an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal website) prior to and during the submission process, as this can lead to productive exchanges and increase citations of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
