No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
The 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima has encouraged comparisons in many quarters with the tragic experience of Minamata more than 55 years earlier, when mercury-poisoned industrial runoff caused widespread illness and death in the human and animal populations. Rather than viewing these disasters as the unfortunate side effects of modern industrial capitalism (to be addressed, in the capitalist view, with financial compensation) Yoneyama Shoko draws on Minamata victim's advocate Ogata Masato to imagine a more humane and life-affirming vision of our obligations to one another. In crafting his response to the Chisso Corporation and the Japanese government, Ogata (who eschewed financial compensation) drew on elements of the popular Japanese religious heritage to affirm an ethos of interdependence and the responsibility that follows. This can be seen, for example, in Ogata's use of the term tsumi, an indigenous Japanese category of ritual impurity that encompasses both physical pollution and moral transgression. Combining notions of “defilement” and of “sin,” tsumi is a principle that (as Brian Victoria notes) has justified some in shunning the victims of chemical or radioactive contamination. Ogata, however, employs the traditional imagery of tsumi to describe, not the victims of pollution but its perpetrators, thereby presenting ecological damage as a profoundly moral matter, one that cannot be reduced to economic impacts or financial compensation.
1 Beck, Ulrich (2011) 「福島、あるいは世界リスク社会における日本の未来 [Fukushima, or the future of Japan in the World Risk Society], in Sekai, July, pp.68-73.
2 Beck, Ulrich (1999) World Risk Society, Polity, Cambridge.
3 McCormack, Gavan (1996) The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence (first edition) New York: M.E.Sharpe, p.5.
4 All Japanese names (except the author's) in this paper are presented in Japanese order: family name first.
5 The term, ‘life-world, has been used in philosophy and sociology to refer to the subjective and conscious dimension of everydaylife (Husserl) including the phenomenological aspects (Merleau-Ponty), which is sometimes posited vis-à-vis the ‘system-world’ (Habermas). Ogata's discourse can be called phenomenological and he also talks about the dichotomy of the ‘life- world’ and the ‘system society’ (システム社会). With these similarities, it will be interesting to examine Ogata's philosophy in relation to the western philosophical tradition. This, however, is well beyond the scope of this paper, and will have to be left to a later date.
6 TEPCO (2012) Press Release 24.05.2012 「東北地方太平洋沖地震の影響による福島第一原子力発電所の事故に伴う大気および海洋への放射性物質の放出量の推定について（平成24年5月現在における評価」 (here (accessed 29.05.2012)
7 Obe, Mitusuru (2012) ‘Tepco's Estimate Of Radiation Rises’, Wall Street Journal Asia, 25.05.2012, p.5.
8 NHK News Web (24.05.2012) 「東電90京ベクレル放出を発表」 here (accessed 29.05.2012).
9 Stohl, A., Seibert, P., Wotawa, G., Arnold, D., Burkhart, J.F., Eckhardt, S., Tapia, C., Vargas, A., and Yasunari, T.J. (2012) ‘Xenon-133 and caesium-137 releases into the atmosphere from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: determination of the source term, atmospheric dispersion, and deposition’, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, pp.2313-2343.
10 Brumfiel, G. (2011) ‘Fallout forensics hike radiation toll’, Nature, 478, pp.435-436. here (accessed 29.05.2012).
11 Koide, Hiroaki, Selden, Kyoko. (trans.) (2012) ‘Japan's Nightmare Fight Against Radiation in the Wake of the 3.11 Meltdown’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 1 April 2012. here
12 Burnie, Shaun, Matsumura Akio and Murata Mitsuhei (2012) ‘The Highest Risk: Problems of Radiation at Reactor Unit 4, Fukushima Daiichi’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol 10, Issue 17, No. 4. here (accessed 29.05.2012).
13 Kumano, Yumiko (Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department, TEPCO) (2010) ‘Integrity Inspection of Dry Storage Casks and Spent Fuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station’, PowerPoint presentation, slide 4, presented at the Third International Seminar on Spent Fuel Storage (ISSF) 第3回中間貯蔵使用済燃料国際セミナー at Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry 電力中央研究所, 15-17 November 2010. here (accessed 19.05.2012).
14 Kondo, Shunsuke (25.03.2011) 「福島第一原子力発電所の不測事態シナリオの素描」 here (accessed 31.05.2012). The report was originally suppressed by the Cabinet Office.
15 TEPCO (26.04.2012) 「4号機原子炉建屋は傾いておらず、燃料プールを含め地震で壊れることはありません」 here (accessed 31.05.2012)
16 Asahi shimbun (26.05.2012) 「廃炉作業阻むがれき 福島4号機・建屋内部を初公開」 here (accessed 3.06.2012)
17 Gundersen, Arnie and Gundersen, Maggie (12.05.2012) ‘Fukushima Daiichi: The Truth and the Future’, video presentation, Fairewinds Energy Education, here (accessed 3.06.2012).
18 Tasaka, Hiroshi (2012) Kantei Kara Mita Genpatsu Jiko No Shinjitu: korekara hajimasu shin no kiki [The Truth About the Nuclear Accident as Viewed From the Prime Minister's Office: The real crisis is expected in future], Kobundo shinsho, pp.20-23. Emphasis added.
19 Fairewinds Energy Education (2012) ‘Lessons from Fukushima’, here, p.7.
20 Fairewinds Energy Education (2012) ‘Lessons from Fukushima’, here, p.5.
21 “Tepco finally admits crisis was avoidable,” Japan Times, October 12, 2012 here. To be sure, the admission was made in a bid to gain permission to restart its closed plants.
22 Giddens, Anthony 1991 Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Stanford University Press.
23 Beck (1999) World Risk Society.
24 Bauman, Zygmunt 2000, Liquid Modernity, Cambridge and Malden, Polity Press.
25 Beck, U. (trans. Ito, Midori) (2011) 「個人化の多様性 [Diversification of individualisation] in Beck, U., Suzuki, M. and Ito, M. (eds.) 『リスク化する日本社会』岩波書店 p.21.
26 Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.9.
27 Ethics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply, 2011, ‘Germany's Energy Transition - A collective project for the future’. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany, here.
28 The blue line indicates the inflation rate, which was included in the original chart produced by the Ministry of Finance but not relevant in this context.
29 Yoshioka, H (2005) ‘Forming a Nuclear Regime and Introducing Commercial Reactors’, in S Nakayama (ed.), A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan, Trans Pacific Press, Melbourne, pp.80-103.
30 Guy, Robert (15.02.2012) ‘It's official, China is No.2’, The Australian Financial Review.
31 Asahi shinbun, 31 August 2012 「水俣病救済策、６万６千人申請、想定２倍、潜在被害多く」 here.
32 環境省総合環境政策局環境保健部特殊疾病対策室 2010 「公害健康被害の補償等に関する法律の被認定者数（水俣病申請処理状況）平成22年3月末現在」 here.
33 George, Timothy (2012) ‘Fukushima in Light of Minamata’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol 10, Issue, 11, No. 5, 12 March; George, T. (2001) Minamata: Pollution and the Struggle for Democracy in Postwar Japan, Harvard University Asia Centre, pp.264-5; Harada, M. & Ishimure, M. (2012)
「水俣病、終わらんよ 原田正純さん・石牟礼道子さん対談」朝日新聞2012年6月13日
34 Takaoka, S. (2011) 「水俣から福島への教訓」『診療研究』 470 号 August issue.
35 Reconstruction Agency 復興庁 15 August 2012 「復興の現状と取組」 p.37, here.
36 Harada, Masazumi (08. 09. 2011) 「原田正純医師に聞く 天災ではなく、人災」東京新聞 Tokyo Shimbun.
37 George (2012) Japan Focus; Smith, Aileen (2012) ‘Anti-nuclear activist sees commonalities between Minamata and Fukushima’, The Mainichi Daily News, 4 March; See also, Smith, Aileen Mioko (2012) ‘Post-Fukushima realities and Japan's energy Future’ (an interview), The Asia- Pacific Journal, 10 (33) no.2, August 13.
38 栗原彬 (2000) 『証言水俣病』岩波新書 pp.10-11.
39 The kanji was chosen in the annual poll for the kanji character conducted by Japan's Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. BBC News Asia, ‘Japanese public choose “kizuna” as kanji of 2011’, 24 December 2011.
40 Respondents were over 20 years of age and were randomly selected from 350 also randomly-selected cities, towns and villages in Japan. Cabinet Office of Japan 内閣府 (2 April 2012) 社会意識に関する世論調査 here. (accessed 28.06.2012).
41 George (2002) p.178. Tsurumi, Y 2007 ‘Minamata's moyainaoshi movement and sustainable development: Recovery from division’, The ESD Study Group for the Asia-Pacific Region, Education for Sustainable Development, Tokyo. Available at here (viewed 28 June 2012).
42 Interview with Ogata Masato, 16 January 2012.
43 George (2001) Minamata, p.284.
44 Tsurumi, Kazuko 鶴見和子(1998) 『鶴見和子曼荼羅 VI 魂の巻 水俣・アニミズム・エコロジー』 [Tsurumi Kazuko Collection Mandara VI Minamata: An Approach to Animism and Ecology], Fujiwara Shoten, Tokyo, p.39.
45 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.173.
46 Beck, Ulrich (2011) ‘Postscript: Individualizing Japan and Beyond: Comment on Comments’, in Beck, Ulrich., Suzuki Munenori, Ito Midori (eds.) Risukuka suru nihonshakai: Ulrich Beck tono taiwa 『リスク化する日本社会』 Iwanami Shoten, p.252.
47 Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.3.
48 Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.3.
49 Interview conducted with Masato Ogata, 15 January 2012, Minamata.
50 Oiwa and Ogata, p.98.
51 Interview.
52 Ogata 2001, p.49, my translation. All quotations from this volume have been translated from Japanese to English by the author.
53 Ogata's terminology, ‘seimei sekai’ (生命世界) or ‘inochi no sekai’ (いのちの世界), becomes ‘life-world’ when translated into English, which happens to be the same phrase as used by Habermas. Both are the same in that ‘life world’ is conceived as an antithesis of the ‘system world/society’. While the ‘life world’ of Habermas refers to everyday life of humans, however, Ogata's notion of ‘life world’ covers a much wider spectrum including the biological, ecological and spiritual world of all beings living and dead.
54 Interview.
55 Oiwa and 2001, p.99.
56 Ogata 2001, p.66
57 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.164.
58 Except the work of some Minamata residents: Ogata Masato, Ishimure Michiko and Sugimoto Eiko.
59 Yomiuri Shimbun, 19 April 2011.
60 Moller, A., Hagiwara, A., Matsui, S. and others (2012) ‘Abundance of birds in Fukushima as Judged from Chernobyl’, Environmental Pollution, 164, p.36.
61 Ogata 2001, p.68.
62 Ogata 2001, pp. 64-5.
63 Ogata 2001, p.66.
64 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.164.
65 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.171.
66 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.164.
67 Ogata 2001, p.62.
68 See the homepage of Biohistory Research Institute for the image of ‘Biohistory’ at here.
69 Nakamura, Keiko (2007) ‘Seimei kagaku: Ikimono kanaku de kangaeru’ 「生命科学：生き物感覚で考える」 [Bioscience: To think about it with senses of a living creature], in 水俣病公式確認 50 年事業実行委員会『創世紀を迎えた水俣：未来への提言』 [Minamata which Entered a New Period for Life and Creativity] (souseiki o mukaeta Minamata)
70 This was done as a solution to the pollution caused by the organic mercury.
71 Ogata 2001, p.63.
72 Ogata 2001, p.67.
73 Beck, Ulrich (2008) A God of one's own, Cambridge, Polity, p.27.
74 Ogata 2001, pp.192-3, emphasis added.
75 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.
76 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.
77 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.
78 Farfugium japonicum. Its leaves look like shiny fuki, but it is not fuki and it has small yellow flowers in autumn. It is evergreen and often seen in Japanese gardens, next to stones.
79 Ogata 2001, p.74
80 Ogata 2001, p.75
81 Ogata and Oiwa 2001, p.172.
82 Ogata 2001, p.10.
83 Ogata and Oiwa 2001, p.162. A strong counter-example to this would be the case of the 14- year-old ‘school killer’ in Kobe in 1998 who murdered a small child and displayed his decapitated head at the gate of his school, in order to demonstrate to society how his ‘existence has been erased’ (存在が消された) by the ‘school society, an incident that has had a prolonged empathic impact among Japanese youth ever since. Yoneyama, Shoko (1999) The Japanese High School: Silence and Resistance, London, Routledge, pp.1-17.
84 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.173.
85 Ogata 2001, p.63.
86 Ogata 2001, p.48.
87 Interview with Ogata Masato, 25 August 2012.
88 Ditto.
89 Interview with Ogata Masato, 16 January 2012.
90 Turner, Victor (1973) ‘The Centre Out There: The Pilgrim's Goal’, History of Religion, 12 (3): 191-230.
91 Birkeland, Inger (2005) Making Place, Making Self: Travel, Subjectivity, and Sexual Difference, London: Ashgate Publishing.
92 McCormack, Gavan (2009) ‘Okinawa's Turbulent 400 Years’, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol.3-3-09, 12 January 2012.
93 This is a far cry from state-shintoism which has been in place since the Meiji period.
94 Reader, Ian (2001) Shinto, Simple Guides, London, pp.40-41. See also, Kagawa-Fox, Midori (2010) ‘Environmental Ethics from the Japanese Perspective’, Ethics, Place and Environment, 13 (1): 57-73.
95 This image of this spiritual world has been adopted in many ways, including anime films by Miyazaki Hayao, most notably in ‘Spirited Away’ (2001) and ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea’ (2008). A strong feature of Miyazaki films is the presence of numerous spirits and (mostly lovable) monstrous beings that live in the unseen world, especially in nature. There are other famous Japanese manga and anime films such as ‘GeGeGe-no-Kitaro’ by Mizuki Shigeru, and more recently, ‘A Letter to Momo’ (2011) by Okiura Hiroyuki, where beings from the invisible world play central roles. The animistic tradition is perhaps best expressed in ‘Tales of Tono’ (1912), a presentation of fork legends by Yanagita Kunio in literature, as well as by woodblock print artists such as Munakata Shiko and Naka Bokunen in art.
96 All quotations in this section, unless otherwise indicated, are from an Interview with Ogata, 25 August 2012.
97 Son Masayoshi and Andrew DeWit (2011) ‘Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: The Energy Future’, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 9, Issue 38 No 2, September 19.
98 Flanagan, Kieran (2007) ‘Introduction’, in Flanagan, K. and Jupp, P., A Sociology of Spirituality, Ashgate, Farnham, p.1.
99 Berger, Peter, L. (1969) A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural, Doubleday & Company, New York, p.2.
100 Flanagan 2007, p.1.
101 Persons, Talcott (1930/1974) ‘Translator's note’, Chapter IV, Endnote 19, in Weber, Max (1930/1974) Persons, T. (trans) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Unwin University Books. Parsons 1930/1974, p.222.
102 Lyotard, J.F. (1979) The Postmodern Condition, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.yotard 1979, p. xxxiv.
103 Lyotard 1979, pp.60-67.
104 Tsurumi, Kazuko 鶴見和子 (1998) 『鶴見和子曼荼羅 VI 魂の巻 水俣・アニミズム・エコロジー』 [Tsurumi Kazuko Collection Mandara VI Minamata: An Approach to Animism and Ecology], Fujiwara Shoten, Tokyo, p.39.
105 De Souza, M, Francis, L.J., O'Higgins-Norman, J., and Scott, D. (2009) ‘General Introduction’, in De Souz et al (eds.) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing, Volume 1, Springer, p.1.
106 Beck, Ulrich (2008) A God of one's own, Cambridge, Polity, p.27.
107 Beck, U., Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2001) Individualization, London, Sage.
108 Elliott, A., Katagiri, M. and Sawai, A. (2012) ‘The New Individualism in Contemporary Japan: Theoretical Avenues and the Japanese New Individualist Path’, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Online: 30 May 2012.
109 Durkheim, E. (1895) The Rules of Sociological Method. See Jones, Robert, Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1986. pp. 6081.
You have
Access
Open access