Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Society After Fukushima

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Planetary Atmospheres of Fukushima: Introduction

   • Christophe Thouny

   Pages 1-18

3. Planetary Thinking After Fukushima

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. “Dying Wisdom” and “Living Madness”: A Comparative Literature of the Errant Star

      • Satoshi Ukai, Philip Kaffen

      Pages 21-27

   3. Nuclear Disaster and Bubbles

      • Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

      Pages 29-50

   4. How Can I Love My Radioactive Tuna? Planetary Love in Shōno Yoriko

      • Christophe Thouny

      Pages 51-70

4. Urban Life After Fukushima

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

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   2. Brave New Sanriku: Recovering from 3.11

      • Ramona Bajema

      Pages 73-94

   3. From Atomic Fission to Splitting Areas of Expertise: When Politics Prevails Over Scientific Proof

      • Cécile Asanuma-Brice

      Pages 95-112

   4. Reconstruction of Marginality: The Tokyo Bay Area in the Great East Japan Earthquake

      • Tadahito Yamamoto

      Pages 113-127

5. Literature, Cinema and Love in Fukushima Japan

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 129-129

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   2. Ecosophy and Planetary Writing: On Chernobyl II

      • Toshiya Ueno

      Pages 131-167

   3. In Time for the War: 3/11 After Cinema

      • Philip Kaffen

      Pages 169-194

   4. The Gesture from Fukushima Daiichi: The Voice in Furukawa Hideo

      • Doug Slaymaker

      Pages 195-205

   5. Conclusion: Capitalism and Atmosphere

      • Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

      Pages 207-209

6. Back Matter

   Pages 211-218

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This collection examines the event of Fukushima in Japan in terms of urban sociology and cultural politics to portray the triple catastrophe of March 2011 as both a planetary event and a dual economic and environmental crisis which indelibly marked Japan and the wider global community. The contributors examine how this new situation has been expressed in particular cultural forms (literature, film), political discourses and urban everyday life in Tokyo and Fukushima, arguing for an imperative need to redefine the national frame of analysis in terms of the concept of the planetary. Building on recent debates in ecocriticism, Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Life After Fukushima deconstructs the spatial logic of containment that reduces the event of Fukushima to a place-bound object to instead reinscribe this event within an open narrative of the planetary. This we believe will allow us to redefine our topologies of attachment to local places beside national discourses of unity, resilience and global strategies of risk management, and open the way to a radical rethink of Japan’s cultural politics of Japan after March 2011.

• Fukushima Japan
• Melancholy Ethics
• Cultural Politics
• Planetary Open Space
• Risk Management
• Planetary Thinking
• Nuclear Disaster
• Literature, Cinema and Love

• The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

  Christophe Thouny

• Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

  Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

Christophe Thouny is Assistant Professor in the Center for Global Communication Strategies at The University of Tokyo, Japan. His research interests focus on the modern urban experience in Japan in relation with nationalism, globalization, and environmental problems. 

Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto is Professor at the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, Japan.

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