From Nuclear Disaster to Film Tourism

The research explores how a well-known historical location associated with disaster tourism became a destination of film tourism. Thanks to the HBO miniseries, the nuclear accident zone around Chernobyl registered a record number of tourists in 2019. The study includes a complex tourism analysis of Chernobyl. The examination of the demand and supply sides of local film tourism is followed by an analysis of elements such as the number of visitors and the supply of thematic routes. The study also analyses interviews with local travel companies and information on their social media platforms. The clear aim of the research is to find out how a successful film may affect the tourism of a location. Using the results of the research, the study discusses how a site previously associated with disaster tourism utilizes the opportunities of film tourism, as well as the opportunities provided by a possible change of profile.

Posttraumatic Growth after the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Examination of Free Descriptions among Fukushima Residents Who Lived in the Evacuation Area

We examined the differences in the posttraumatic growth (PTG) free descriptions from clusters of Fukushima residents (evacuation and non-evacuation zones) who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the relationship between “recovery from radiation anxiety” and the PTG-free description classification in these regions. A mail survey was conducted in August 2016 among Fukushima residents aged 20–79 years for free descriptions of their PTG. Participants were then divided into the “no anxiety,” “recovered from anxiety,” and “unrecovered from anxiety” groups based on their “recovery from radiation anxiety.” Data from 786 responses were analyzed. The PTG-free descriptions were classified into eight categories. Among those who lived in the evacuation zone versus those in the non-evacuation zone, “relating to others” (non-evacuation zone: 11.9% vs. evacuation zone: 18.4%) and “appreciation of life” (non-evacuation zone: 2.7% vs. evacuation zone: 9.8%) were significantly higher, and “increased awareness of disaster prevention” (non-evacuation zone: 20.4% vs. evacuation zone: 8.0%) was significantly lower. In the evacuation zone, “renewed recognition of nuclear issues” was significantly lower than the expected value in the no anxiety group (3.1%) and significantly higher than the expected value in the recovered group (22.9%). Further studies are needed to build support measures and potentially aid in preparing for future disasters.

Adolescence Outside the Restricted Zone: A Narrative Study of Nuclear Disaster Response Trajectories intertwining with Life (TiL)

Responses to trauma can involve complex meaning-making processes and the perception of ambiguous threats. This study sought to explore response trajectories to a nuclear disaster and their intertwining courses with ecological factors (Trajectories intertwining with Life—TiL) from adolescence onward among a non-evacuated population. Four women and four men (mean age 20) who were adolescents during the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima (mean age 14), and who grew up outside the restricted zone participated in the study. Semi-structured life story interviews were conducted in the form of in-depth qualitative inquiries. A holistic analysis was employed to identify the TiL patterns following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in the overall context of the stories and to reveal important themes throughout adolescence. Four TiL patterns were found: three trajectories corresponding with those identified in prior research and one newly identified trajectory. The perceived, distal, and continuous threat of radiation played a central role in all patterns and exerted secondary impacts throughout the lives of non-evacuated adolescents. The study’s implications shed light on rarely studied response trajectories to ambiguous Potentially Traumatic Events (PTEs) throughout adolescence and point out the benefits of using a life story approach to this end for the first time.

Tailoring Digital Tools to Address the Radiation and Health Information Needs of Returnees after a Nuclear Accident

Digital tools are increasingly used for health promotion, but their utility during recovery from a nuclear disaster has yet to be established. This study analysed differences in knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward digital tools for radiation protection and health promotion, and preferences for specific application functions, among cohorts living within and outside areas affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station (FDNPS) accident. A needs assessment was conducted by internet survey, and responses from those affected (N = 86) and not affected (N = 253) were compared and quantified by an adjusted odds ratio (aOR), using logistic regression analyses. KAP toward the radiation-related application in the affected group had an aOR of 1.95 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12–3.38) for knowledge, and 5.71 (CI = 2.55–12.8) for practice. Conversely, toward the health-related application, the aOR of the affected group was 0.50 (CI = 0.29–0.86). The preference in the affected group was significantly lower for two application functions related to radiation measurement and two health-related functions (one about the effects of radiation in general and another about personal health advice in general): aOR range 0.43–0.50. Development of specific applications incorporating the findings from this survey was intended to foster a locally appropriate eHealth environment during recovery from the FDNPS accident.

Radioactive Contamination Countermeasures, Food Inspection Systems, and the Issue of Reputational Damage in the Early Stages of the Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima Prefecture

This paper overviews the achievements and challenges of radioactive contamination countermeasures, food inspection systems, and reputational damage to agricultural products in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster. It outlines the effectiveness of early countermeasures such as absorption control measures and soil decontamination, and observes how efforts aimed at revitalizing afflicted areas were initiated and advanced primarily through the leadership of residents and agricultural producers. Furthermore, it examines food inspection systems such as the “all-bag-all-volume” testing system for rice that was implemented in Fukushima, and suggests that a failure to extend such countermeasures to outside of Fukushima Prefecture was a contributing factor to the ongoing issue of reputational damage and consumer reluctance to purchase products from the area. Lastly, the paper categorizes early consumer trends in four groups based on differing perceptions of risk and safety, and concludes that dealing with reputational damage should entail creating maps of radioactive material distribution, and also building a rational inspection system that allows consumers to objectively identify the safety of agricultural products.

Home Otherwise: Living Archives and Half-Life Politics in Post-Fallout Coastal Fukushima

While the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan forced residents out of their coastal Fukushima homes, transforming familiar ecologies into sites of estrangement, Naoko and neighbors remain invested in the material objects and spiritual relations of their houses, within and despite the logics of contamination. These desires to repair domestic livelihoods to nurture a sense of home (ie) and the idea of dying well (ii shinikata) challenge critical theories of nuclear fallout, which frame contamination’s impacts in terms of biopolitical logics and planetary scales. Thus, although contamination regiments the lives of residents through what I call a half-life politics, their practices of house-ing defy these strictures, as planetary contamination becomes experiential, ethnographic, and interscalar, and as people attempt to remake lives in an already injured and irradiated world. 要旨 2011 年東日本大震災に起因する東京電力福島第一発電所事故は近隣の森や 生態系を汚染し、多くの福島県浜通り地区の住民達を長期避難に追いやった。し かしながら住民の多くは汚染されなくなく避難した『家』との縁を切るのではな く、個々の考える『いい死に方』を求め汚染された家との物質的、精神的つながり 求め続けた。このような避難民の原子力事故後の行動は、人間と放射性物質の関 係性を生物的ダメージに特化して語るフォールアウト関連の学術的思考や、事故 後の政策に見られる汚染中心の『半減期的政治』とは異なる考え方の必要性を示 している。この論文は文化人類学的アプローチを使い、人はどのようにして『家』 を保持しようとする行動の中で自分以外のモノとのつながりを認知し、放射能汚 染の様々な規模 -その地域性や普遍性- を理解し、それと共存して行こうとす るのかという問いへの回答を探る. Resumo Enquanto o desastre nuclear de 2011 no Japão forçou os residentes de Fukushima a abandonar suas casas, transformando ecologias familiares em locais de estranhamento, Naoko e seus vizinhos continuam a investir em objetos e em relações espirituais com as suas casas agora emolduradas pela lógica da contaminação. O desejo de recuperar o sentido de lar (ie) e a ideia de morrer bem (ii shinikata) desafia as teorias críticas da contaminação radioativa que maiormente enfatizam o seu impacto em termos biopolíticos e em escala planetária. Assim, embora a contaminação regule o dia a dia dos moradores através do que eu chamo de half-life politics, suas práticas de house-ing desafiam essas restrições. A etnografia revela a contaminação planetária como sendo experiencial e interescalar, e mostra as pessoas refazendo as suas vidas em um mundo já irradiado e ferido. Resumen Mientras el desastre nuclear de 2011 en Japón obligó a los residentes de Fukushima a abandonar sus hogares, transformando ecologías familiares en lugares de extrañamiento, Naoko y sus vecinos siguen invirtiendo en objetos y en relaciones espirituales con sus casas ahora envueltas en la lógica de la contaminación. Los deseos de recuperar el sentido de hogar (ie) y la idea de morir bien (ii shinikata) desafían las teorías críticas sobre la contaminación radioactiva que en su mayoría enfatizan los impactos biopolíticos y la escala planetaria. Así, aunque la contaminación regula el cotidiano a través de lo que llamo half-life politics, las prácticas de house-ing desafían estas restricciones. La etnografía revela a la contaminación planetaria como experiencial e interescalar y muestra a las personas rehaciendo sus vidas en un mundo ya herido e irradiado.