For centuries, Japanese culture has attracted the interest of foreign scholars of different disciplines, who were intrigued by several aspects that appeared to them of difficult understanding. One feature that has been of particular concern, mainly among anthropologists, is the overt contradiction between some forms of thought, values and customs. The management of the Fukushima nuclear crisis has offered the world yet another example of this contradiction. On the one hand, Japan has been able to recover from the natural disaster with a quickness and firmness of ground-level responses that seems unprecedented. On the other hand, the slowness and lack of preparation in dealing with the nuclear accident have raised concern across the world. In this article I show that cultural explanations have been used to justify this discrepancy and to attribute the inability to manage the crisis to regulatory and organizational forces. Cultural analyses have been politicized to allow both rhetoric of justification and one of accusation. I analyze some Japanese sources that explain this contradiction from the standpoint of the official report of the Fukushima case and of an unofficial, independent blog.

(2013). Cultural reverberations among Fukushima radiations: institutional vs. emotional versions of the nuclear accident [journal article - articolo]. In URBANITIES. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/31731

Cultural reverberations among Fukushima radiations: institutional vs. emotional versions of the nuclear accident

Torsello, Davide
2013-01-01

Abstract

For centuries, Japanese culture has attracted the interest of foreign scholars of different disciplines, who were intrigued by several aspects that appeared to them of difficult understanding. One feature that has been of particular concern, mainly among anthropologists, is the overt contradiction between some forms of thought, values and customs. The management of the Fukushima nuclear crisis has offered the world yet another example of this contradiction. On the one hand, Japan has been able to recover from the natural disaster with a quickness and firmness of ground-level responses that seems unprecedented. On the other hand, the slowness and lack of preparation in dealing with the nuclear accident have raised concern across the world. In this article I show that cultural explanations have been used to justify this discrepancy and to attribute the inability to manage the crisis to regulatory and organizational forces. Cultural analyses have been politicized to allow both rhetoric of justification and one of accusation. I analyze some Japanese sources that explain this contradiction from the standpoint of the official report of the Fukushima case and of an unofficial, independent blog.
articolo
2013
Torsello, Davide
(2013). Cultural reverberations among Fukushima radiations: institutional vs. emotional versions of the nuclear accident [journal article - articolo]. In URBANITIES. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/31731
File allegato/i alla scheda:
File Dimensione del file Formato  
Torsello - Cultural reverberations among Fukushima radiations.pdf

Solo gestori di archivio

Versione: publisher's version - versione editoriale
Licenza: Licenza default Aisberg
Dimensione del file 107.09 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
107.09 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Aisberg ©2008 Servizi bibliotecari, Università degli studi di Bergamo | Terms of use/Condizioni di utilizzo

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10446/31731
Citazioni
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact