1614142693071 JCI Vol 41 Issue 4 2017.Pdf

Article Journal of Communication Inquiry 0(0) 1–21 Fukushima Fallout in ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Japanese Manga: The DOI: 10.1177/0196859917712232 Oishinbo Controversy journals.sagepub.com/home/jci Through the Lens of Habermas’ Discourse Ethics Derek Moscato1 Abstract Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant calamity created a global focal point for debate about nuclear energy, and a notable forum for dissent. The incident, marked by the meltdown of three of the nuclear facility’s reactors, is the largest nuclear incident since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster of 1986. In 2014, the popular Japanese manga Oishinbo, authored by Tetsu Kariya, helped set off a firestorm of intense debate in social and traditional media when it published a fictionalized account of the environmental and health hazards for residents living close to the plant. This paper explores the ethical implications of such portrayals in a fictionalized medium through the theoretical lens of Ju¨rgen Habermas and against the unique backdrop of Japan’s evolving media landscape and tumultuous recent environmental history. Habermas’ discourse ethics theory is well situated to analyze this complex case, in spite of the eventual and well-publicized suspension of the Oishinbo comic. Habermas’ favoring of a public moral discourse that is free of power imbalances, and one in which the superior argument for society as a whole ultimately prevails, helps contextualize the important but contentious discourse that took place across Japan in the wake of Kariya’s publication about Fukushima, and the responsibility of the manga in balancing the well-being of Fukushima Prefecture residents with a broader public interest. By connecting his actions to a transcendental purpose of giving voice 1Department of Journalism, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA Corresponding Author: Derek Moscato, Department of Journalism, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225- 9161, USA. Email: [email protected] 2 Journal of Communication Inquiry 0(0) to a marginalized constituency, Kariya established discourse within manga as a path- way to potential resolution for victims of an ecological crisis. Keywords media, manga, comics, discourse ethics, environment, Japan Introduction In the spring of 2014, a Japanese comic author challenged his country’s mainstream media narrative of the situation at Fukushima Prefecture, home to one of the world’s worst-ever nuclear accidents (Kiger, 2013), with accounts of environmental damage and disturbing health consequences for local residents. The ensuing media controversy garnered the wrath of the country’s prime minister and the attention of a nation still grappling with the 2011 disaster. This paper explores the ethical implications of such portrayals in a fictionalized, popular cultural medium—specifically, the Japanese comic Oishinbo—through the lens of Ju¨rgen Habermas’ discourse ethics. Against the backdrop of Japan’s unique media landscape, Fukushima provides a particularly important site for discourse ethics. It is not only one of the world’s worst environmental disasters historic- ally, but it is also one that transpired in Japan’s contemporary media and political climate. Habermas’ assertion that justice is a more important outcome from discourse than a collective good challenges not only expected institutional resistance but also presumed or perceived existing societal norms in Japan. A methodology of ethical inquiry is used to analyze the case—including both the manga itself and the media discourse emanating from it. Japanese media outlets are examined to assess institutional reaction and debate. Background Like other environmental scenarios that share its scale and scope, Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster created a global focal point for discussion about nuclear energy, and a notable forum for dissent. The incident, marked by the meltdown of three of the nuclear facility’s reactors, is the largest nuclear incident since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster of 1986 (‘‘The Legacy of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster,’’ 2016). On the International Nuclear Event Scale, Fukushima has garnered a Level 7 measurement, the highest possible rating and indication of a ‘‘major event.’’ Over 300,000 people were forced to evacuate the area in the days following the meltdown, in contrast to the evacu- ation of 14,000 residents in the case of Chernobyl. Given Japan’s history with nuclear technology, in particular the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima Moscato 3 and Nagasaki during the Second World War and subsequent debates in the decades following over the merits of nuclear energy, the events of Fukushima fostered a unique national trauma. During the initial days, and indeed weeks, of the Fukushima incident, exten- sive global media coverage about the accident ran alongside a larger narrative about the tragic earthquake and tsunami that had devastated Japan and had triggered the nuclear accident. Coverage in the Japanese media—including the Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun,andMainichi Shimbun newspapers, and tele- vision outlets such as national broadcaster NHK—was especially intense. Beyond details of the accident itself, ranging from coverage of the site’s nuclear technology and infrastructure to the workers trying to contain the damage, one of the recurring themes both in Japan and globally was contrast- ing the benefits of nuclear energy with its inherent dangers. The incident occurred at a time when several nations—including the United States—were looking at scaling up their nuclear plant capacity to meet growing national energy needs. The essence of such debate was one of the economic versus the environmental and social: Was nuclear energy’s economic upside ultimately worth the environmental and by extension societal cost? With the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) providing a plan for dealing with the crisis, and audience interest globally moving to other topics, media coverage began to eventually subside. To date, news coverage of the disaster often revolves around formal announcements from the Japanese government or Tepco, as well as key milestones or ‘‘news pegs’’ bridging to the event, such as when environmental activists have annually framed news report- ing of the Hiroshima atomic bombing anniversary, pointing to Fukushima as a reminder of contemporary nuclear threats. Because of ongoing challenges in controlling the crisis, the extent of the damage from Fukushima is still not completely known, even several years after the initial meltdown. Mainstream media coverage in the 5 years since the Fukushima disaster has also been marked by a lack of focus on its health implications, in part because govern- ments and corporations have been successful in framing media coverage (Pascale, 2017). Despite marked decline in international mainstream media coverage of the Fukushima event (Landman, 2011), the accident has garnered significant interest in activist media. For example, Greenpeace has continued to monitor the impact of Fukushima on fish stocks across the Pacific Ocean. Environmental groups in North America have measured water and air quality impacts along the contin- ent’s West Coast. At the same time, the Fukushima disaster has garnered growing attention in popular culture and entertainment. The 2014 summer blockbuster movie Godzilla, for example, weighed in with its own symbolic messaging and moral narrative. In the Hollywood production, an out-of-control nuclear industry lies at the heart of a trail of destruction between Japan and North America. The story actually begins with a catastrophic accident 4 Journal of Communication Inquiry 0(0) at a nuclear power plant caused by a major earthquake—providing a stark reminder of 2011 events. The juxtaposition of fictional Hollywood monsters onto an existing environmental calamity is nothing new, however. The horror movie Silent Hill invokes the real ghost town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a once prospering coal mining town that had to be evacuated in the 1980s because of an underground coal fire—the worst in U.S. history—that continues to burn decades later (Kiger, 2013). Yet another Hollywood horror film based on the aftermath of environmental disaster, The Chernobyl Diaries, depicts the ill-fated journey of a group of young American sightseers to the Chernobyl disaster site, where they are terrorized by radioactive zombies who were created by the nuclear meltdown. Popular culture produced within Japan has not been as provocative with regard to Fukushima specifically, although the country has produced movies that reflect upon environmental and particularly nuclear disasters, such as Japanese cinematic productions of the Godzilla franchise. A reporter from Reuters wrote in 2014 that the nuclear disaster is a sensitive subject in Japan. Directors (in Japan) making mass-market films about Fukushima tiptoe into the debate or set their movies in an unspecified future. Sponsors are skittish and overall film revenues falling, with viewers shying away from anything too political. (Lies, 2014) With that void identified, it should come as less of a surprise that within Japan, one of the most provocative and contentious fictional portrayals of the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster came from a relatively unlikely place: Manga, the Japanese-produced serial comics that are popular with both Japanese chil- dren and adults. Specifically, the manga-produced flashpoint was a special series

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