Visualizing Nuclear Power in Japan

Reviewed by: Visualizing Nuclear Power in Japan: A Trip to the Reactor by Morris Low Yuki Miyamoto (bio) Visualizing Nuclear Power in Japan: A Trip to the Reactor By Morris Low. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. Pp. xiii+ 260. Why did people in Japan embrace nuclear power despite having witnessed its destructive force in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? In Visualizing Nuclear Power in Japan, Morris Low answers this question by examining visual representations of nuclear power—both as a weapon and a source of energy. Low argues that "public attitudes to nuclear power were shaped by strong interactions between representations and discourses" (p. 4). The Japanese discourse surrounding nuclear power, in part in negotiations with the United States, constructed Japan's identity as a nation of advanced science until it was ferociously shaken by the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima in 2011. The visual representations discussed in the book vary both materially (paintings, films, photos, science exhibitions, and images of the Olympic Games) and chronologically (from prior to the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima through the Fukushima accident). Although several Japanese authors from diverse disciplinary fields have worked on a similar theme, this book is an important contribution to the Anglophone literature. Various exhibitions in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, which were directly and indirectly organized by the United States Information Service/Agency, demonstrate Low's claim that Japan's nuclear discourse is the product of a collaboration between the United States and Japan. Given the history of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, as well as blowback from the Lucky Dragon incident in 1954 (when a Japanese fishing boat was caught in fallout from an American nuclear bomb test; ch. 3), it was urgent for the governments of both countries to promote a positive image of nuclear power in Japan. On the U.S. side, this was necessary to sell nuclear technology, while the Japanese were keen to catch up with advanced technology as a U.S. ally. Even after the emergence of an anti–atomic-and-hydrogen-bomb movement nationwide, instigated by the Lucky Dragon incident, Low asserts that advocacy for nuclear power inspired young students and fueled adults' imagination for the future by linking nuclear power to advanced science and technology. Nuclear energy was further promoted through education, including school excursions to visit exhibitions and nuclear power facilities (ch. 8), and consumerism, by housing U.S.-hosted exhibitions in department stores. The latter suggested the association of the abundant energy provided by nuclear power plants with an ideal lifestyle of a refrigerator, a TV set, and other home appliances, as advertised in media. Besides education and consumerism, Low introduces sporting events as another powerful venue to promote nuclear power. At the 1964 Tokyo [End Page 908] Olympics, an athlete who carried the Olympic torch was born on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima prefecture (60 km north of Hiroshima city; ch. 9). Presenting a healthy, able-bodied 19-year-old from Hiroshima on this world stage served as a statement to the international community that Japan had recovered from the devastation of the atomic bombings, despite the ongoing struggles of the sufferers. This same rhetoric of "recovery" regarding the Fukushima accident was repeated in the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics. Overall, Low's monograph is informative, well researched, and a good resource for learning about Japan's rejection of nuclear weapons while still embracing nuclear energy. In fact, this rather disingenuous dichotomization of evil weapon and peaceful energy source was successfully conveyed through visual representations in the venues described above. Low's comparison of visual representations of anti–nuclear weapons and those of pro–nuclear energy, however, may need closer analysis. Given the fact that Japan does not possess nuclear weapons (although Japan is fully capable of creating one, and the government seems to intend to keep the potential), an anti–nuclear weapons message was primarily directed at people outside of Japan, whereas a pro–nuclear energy attitude was cultivated among the public of Japan. Furthermore, it is crucial to note the distinctions between the anti–nuclear weapon movement that has arisen from the grass roots and that of pro–nuclear energy that is primarily state sponsored

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