Transformation of the antinuclear drive in post-war Japan

This presentation attempts to identify the nature of today’s antinuclear movement in Japan by placing it in comparison with its predecessor, anti-atomic bomb campaign in 1950s.  In so doing it tries to identify the changing nature of the movement, as well as the sources of the change.

March 11, 2011, a great earthquake and the subsequent tsunami claimed the life of 20,000 people in Japan, the heaviest damage Japan has experienced in recent history.  The worse came afterwards: nuclear plant explosions.  The nuclear disaster triggered a series of demonstrations and civil activities protesting against the nuclear power plant policy in Japan and abroad.  Today’s anti-nuclear movement in Japan is not without its predecessor, however.  In 1950s, Japan has experienced a huge protest action against the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, culminating in a mega-scale signature collecting campaign led by the ordinary citizens. 

These two campaigns, some sixty years apart, show a stark contrast in some important respects, ranging from organizational forms to mobilization strategies.  One important source of the differences lies in the mental/cognitive aspect of participants and campaign organizers.  While the cognized problem in the 1950s was the one pertaining to the war weapons, the conceived problem in today’s movement is that of humankind and of the earth.  Behind these differences may exist the changing form of the state; while Japan in the 1950s was still a developmental state, Japan in the present seems devoid of a developmental rigor, with mounting concerns over the environments and safety as well as human rights instead.

This paper employs a comparative design, in which two movement campaigns of a very similar category are illustrated to clarify the characteristics of each campaign, and asks why these differences have emerged over the course of the movement development.