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The situation is even more serious when one considers the vast numbers of displaced people from the areas which are heavily affected by nuclear accidents, but especially from the towns in which Fukushima nuclear power stations are located. They have been —or will be— living in many places outside the towns for a long time, and some of them are skeptical about their towns’ possible reconstructions.
The relationship between the issue of reparation and the social aspects of the widespread displacement, however, has received less attention than either issue alone. It is important to see how the reparation affects the people and how the scattered people gather and show their collective opinions to influence the policy.
This is why each of us began field research and the Research Team on the Widespread Displacement of the People of the Town of Tomioka (led by Assoc. Prof. Yamashita, Tokyo Metropolitan University) was set up to investigate the lives of displaced families.
Using data drawn from the statistics and interviews, we will first examine the conditions of the local governments and populations on the move, and secondly will discuss how families, neighborhoods and workplaces are being dis- and re-organized. By so doing, we will suggest how their sense of themselves as a community, or the phrase “we the townspeople,” faces difficulty.
Finally, however, we will focus on why “towns” are becoming important again, by showing how town-meetings are being argued necessary and how the practice is being revived, from the point of view of connecting the fluid local governments and populations, through using now scarce but meaningful resources of families, neighborhoods, or workplaces.