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Download Date 01/10/2021 19:56:38 The Politics of Disaster and Their Role in Imagining an Outside. Understanding the Rise of the Post-Fukushima Anti-Nuclear Movements Item Type Thesis Authors Tamura, Azumi Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 01/10/2021 19:56:38 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/14384 University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. The Politics of Disaster and Their Role in Imagining an Outside Understanding the Rise of the Post-Fukushima Anti-Nuclear Movements Azumi TAMURA Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Social Sciences University of Bradford 2015 Abstract Azumi TAMURA The Politics of Disaster and Their Role in Imagining an Outside Understanding the Rise of the Post-Fukushima Anti-Nuclear Movements Keywords: Fukushima, Social movement, Contemporary Japan, Postmodernity, Political apathy, Identity, Emotion Political disillusionment is widespread in contemporary Japanese society, despite people’s struggles in the recession. Our social relationships become entangled, and we can no longer clearly identify our interest in politics. The search for the outside of stagnant reality sometimes leads marginalised young people to a disastrous imaginary for social change, such as war and death. The imaginary of disaster was actualised in March 2011. The huge earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which triggered the largest wave of activism since the 1960s. Based on the author’s fieldwork on the post-Fukushima anti-nuclear movements in Tokyo, this thesis investigates how the disaster impacted people’s sense of agency and ethics, and ultimately explores the new political imaginary in postmodernity. The disaster revealed the interconnected nature of contemporary society. The thesis argues that their regret about their past indifference to politics motivated the protesters into social commitment without any totalising ideology or predetermined collective identity. They also found an ambiguity of the self, which is insufficient to know what should be done. Hence, they mobilise their bodies on to the streets, encountering others, and forcing themselves to feel and think. This is an ethical attitude, yet it simultaneously stems from the desire of each individual to make a difference to the self and society. The thesis concludes that the post-Fukushima anti-nuclear movements signify a new way of doing politics as endless experiments by collectively responding to an unexpected force from an outside in a creative way. i Acknowledgements For about 20 years, I wanted to know about ‘something’, but I was not clear what it was. The only thing I was sure about was that none of the answers given to me were the right ones. I stopped searching for it when I finished my BA, because I thought that this ‘something’ may never be grasped. I am so glad that I was allowed another chance to explore it. I can say that what is written here is what I wanted to know, although it is still an on-going exploration. This work would have never been completed without the following people: My supervisor, Dr Graeme Chesters—you are the first teacher to make me feel that this ‘something’ is pursuable. I really appreciate that you always taught me how to explore, instead of giving answers. All the interviewees in my fieldwork: people in NFS, MCAN and the protesters I met in the post-Fukushima social movements—I learned a lot from your passion, honesty and bravery. In particular, my gratitude goes to the following three women whom I really respect: Yumi Nakamura—for your earnest responses to my work which gave me new motivation and new perspectives. You always encouraged me by telling me how my work could resonate with this on-going movement. Kaori Nawa—for your encouragement to do this PhD. It was you who taught me to open myself to a new potential in life by celebrating new encounters. Misao Redwolf—for sparing your busy time for my interviews, and for always being my inspiration with your strength and resilience. My colleagues in the University of Bradford, especially Miriam, Fang and Nura—for helping me to overcome many obstacles in this course, and giving me a nice relaxed time away from work. ii John R Coast—for proofreading the entire thesis and polishing my English within a very tight schedule. My father Toshiaki and my mother Mari—for your support, encouragement and patience in allowing me to finish this thesis, despite the difficult times. Marie Morrow, my other ‘mother’ in the UK—for supporting my work, sharing the feelings and thoughts, and giving me a wonderful life in Bradford. iii Table of contents Abstract ...................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ..................................................................................... iv Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Personal motivation, research objectives and questions ..................... 7 1.3 Structure ............................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2 Literature review: Political predicament in the pre-disaster Japan ........................................................................................................... 15 Introduction ................................................................................................ 15 2.1 The era of the ideal .......................................................................... 16 2.1.1 The United States as a role model .............................................. 16 2.1.2. The Zenkyoto movement and the beginning of postmodernity ..... 19 2.1.3 The end of the era of the ideal....................................................... 22 2.2 The era of the fictive .......................................................................... 26 2.2.1 Triumph of economy and emergence of new identity .................. 26 2.2.2 Consumer society and the self as ‘crystal’ ................................... 28 2.2.3 Consuming post-structuralist knowledge ....................................... 30 2.2.4 Search for an outside in subculture ............................................... 32 2.3 The era of the impossible..................................................................... 36 2.3.1 The exposure to the postmodern condition ................................... 36 2.3.2 Desperation for connection and recognition .................................. 40 2.3.3 Accepting the transparent existence ............................................. 43 2.4 Difficulty of social change in the era of the impossible ......................... 46 2.4.1 Prevailing culture: consuming the other without otherness ........... 46 2.4.2 Periphery: Searching for the lost ‘other’ ....................................... 50 iv 2.4.3 Outside: hopeless hope of disaster ............................................. 55 2.4.4 Politics in the era of the impossible ............................................... 59 Summary and further directions ................................................................. 64 Chapter 3 Theoretical framework: Political projects in the postmodern condition ...................................................................................................... 66 Introduction ................................................................................................ 66 3.1 What is the ‘postmodern condition’? .................................................. 68 3.1.1 Loss of meta-narratives and political disenchantment ................... 68 3.1.2 The postmodern condition in the Japanese context ...................... 72 3.1.3 Prescriptions for the postmodern condition ................................. 75 3.2 Politics in the postmodern condition: Liberation from what? .............. 80 3.2.1 Biopower and micropolitics .......................................................... 80 3.2.2 The concept of flight/becoming .................................................... 84 3.3 Motivation and agency: Who wants social change? ........................... 87 3.3.1 Situationist theory and authentic desire ......................................... 87 3.3.2 Simulation theory ........................................................................... 91 3.3.3 Autonomist theory and the concept of ‘multitude’ ........................ 94 3.3.4 New meta-narratives? ................................................................. 98 3.4 Direction and teleology: Where to go? ............................................. 102 3.4.1 Communicative rationality ........................................................... 102 3.4.2 Politics of emotions and experiences .........................................
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