Lessons From Fukushima: Japanese Case Studies on Science, Technology and Society PDF
Preview Lessons From Fukushima: Japanese Case Studies on Science, Technology and Society
Yuko Fujigaki E ditor Lessons From Fukushima Japanese Case Studies on Science, Technology and Society Lessons From Fukushima Yuko Fujigaki Editor Lessons From Fukushima Japanese Case Studies on Science, Technology and Society 123 Editor Yuko Fujigaki Graduate School ofArts andSciences Universityof Tokyo Tokyo, Tokyo Japan ISBN 978-3-319-15352-0 ISBN 978-3-319-15353-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15353-7 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015931539 SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon ©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerInternationalPublishingAGSwitzerlandispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia (www.springer.com) Foreword by Rethy Chhem The destruction brought down and across the Japanese coast in March 2011 has returned to us our fear and our uncertainty. We had assumed mastery where misunderstanding and negligence lay. Above all, we have seen the world, and ourselves inside it, brought to cold reflections: How have our systems failed? How have we failed to prevent? How have we failed to imagine? Thethirdcharge,ourmostsevereandaccusatory,encompassesthewholeofour misstepsandmalpracticetowardsthisdisasterandallbeforeit:Wemayhavefailed to imagine. Once, requiring only a crude understanding of possibilities and outcomes, wielding technologies of risk was a seemingly simple affair. Their behaviour we assumed to be known, controlled and local. We managed the benefits and risks oftheseinstrumentswithpredictivelaws,andthus,predictiveremediationwhenwe experiencefailure.Theuncertaintiesofourtechnologyanditsscientificbasiswere to be uncovered through progress, never beyond the limits of investigation and never included as a feature of science. Now,inspiteofthis,ourincreasinglycomplexsocialworldhaschallengedusto revise our entrenched narrowness of problem solving. We witness physical destruction pushing far beyond the normative framework of scientific understand- ing and must draw new ways of looking, from a variety offields, to these intricate problems. We must filter our vision through the pages of new volumes. In sum, we must reimagine. Withover30years’experienceinradiationmedicineasapracticingradiologist, a historian of science and social scientist—along with numerous publications on clinical radiology, radiation protection and a Science-Technology-Society (STS) handbook for Fukushima Medical University (FMU)—I have developed a unique perspective on this emergent requirement of social understanding in disaster relief. Theinteractionsbetweenscience,technologyandsocietyareimmenselyimportant v vi ForewordbyRethyChhem to gaining a clear analysis of disaster towards remediation. With such vision, we can uncover the complex and wondrous assemblage of the nuclear reactor beneath the mechanistic surface: A singular nexus of the social, the political and the material, powered by courage and ambition. Likewise, we can investigate its failures with similar acuity. Whenthecompounddisasterof3/11occurred,Iwitnessedeffortstomitigatethe short and mid-term damage of the disaster troubled by immense difficulties. As a VisitingProfessortoNagasakiandHiroshimaUniversitiesaswellasFMU,whereI was teaching STS to healthcare professionals during the crisis and the recovery phase, I became acutely aware of thelimitations of these emergency efforts. These efforts—which, particularly at the center of disaster, were often heroic—were not simply afflicted by the conditions of radioactive fallout, but also by misunder- standing of the unique human afflictions brought on by its after effects. Moreover, the communication of risk to the public remained greatly hindered by this lack of comprehension surrounding the social issues of the disaster. It seemed to us that otherwiseclean,easilyassuagedproblemshadliftedfromthetextbookandintothe social, taking on the form of acute psychological illness. In other words, infor- mation that performed neatly in theory would complicate and disperse in this very alive, very human situation. This social element proved critical, with few of those professionals leading the emergency response possessing an expert understanding. The mass migration of Japanesecitizensfromthedisasterareatosaferground,thedislocatedyouth,adults and elderly: all were shuttled away from their realities to form temporary lives for indefinite time. Lives caught in jeopardy, journeying between the irradiated shoreline to the anxieties of unemployment and social exclusion. Had the capacity for exploring the possibilities of our technology led to an inability to control its development? Had our dependency on the existence of this technologysimplyblindedustotheircomplex dangers?The tripledisasterof3/11 had thoroughly pierced the rigidity of disaster preparedness. To reimagine and reform, we must spread the boundaries of our understanding. The publication you hold is a welcome response to this challenge. By first addressingmajorquestionsrelatedtothesocialimpactsoftheFukushimaDisaster, Professor Yuko Fujigaki continues a potent argument towards broadening our understanding of the placement of the Fukushima disaster in the mutable folds of society. Particularly important to our understanding, the author illustrates the historical bearingofnucleartechnology—fromtheatomicbombingsoflate1945tothechief concern of Fukushima—on the island nation and how these technologies would becomeinterwoven within thecomplex national character of Japan. Thishistorical perspective provides Professor Fujigaki with the grounds for crucial comparisons with other diseases (Minimata and Itai-Itai disease) and with other cases (HIV- tainted-blood scandal and Winny case) in part two of publication in order to investigatethecomplexrelationshipbetweenscience,technologyandsociety.This series of similar yet distinct technological concerns allows the author to trace the ForewordbyRethyChhem vii actors and assemblages that construct the foundations by which technologies are envisioned, enacted and remedied, particular once they fail to serve us correctly. ProfessorFujigaki’sbreadthofknowledgeinthefieldofSTSandherleadership intheJapaneseSTScommunitybrilliantlyshowcasesindividualeffortstoprogress our knowledge of risk communication, the complex layers of interactions within society, and scientific and technological activity. The creation of this publication itselfisevidenceoftheconsiderableeffortsshownbytheprofessor,havingledthe process of gathering Japanese experts to contribute to this uniquely valuable pub- lication. Through such academic ambitions, we continue to push outward and expand the frame of our perception to the convoluted realities of disaster, partic- ularlywhereoursocialfabrichasfrayedmostconspicuously,whereliveshavebeen troubled most deeply. And with a new vision atop these pillars of experience, relationships between particles and people attain equal importance, each requiring sound and balanced analysis. And with this analysis, we can survey our errors at its truest extent, and bring science to greater utility. Dr. Rethy Chhem Visiting Professor Fukushima Medical University Hiroshima University Nagasaki University Foreword by Wiebe E. Bijker This volume provides a rich collection of studies to help us understand the “Great East Japan Earthquake”, or rather the triple disaster—of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant failure—that happened in and around Fukushima in March 2011. The chapters address questions about the historical development of the Japanese nuclear program, risk management and communication, new forms of participatory technology planning,pollutionandpublichealth,andthegovernance oftechnology.Thesequestionsareaddressedbyusingabroadrangeofapproaches fromtheinterdisciplinaryspectrumthatmakesupthefieldofScience,Technology and Society studies (STS). But it does more than addressing these important questions generated by “Fukushima”. The volume, through its lens of the triple disaster, creates a fasci- nating cross-section of Japanese society. Using STS perspectives, Yuko Fujigaki and her colleagues sketch a picture of Japanese society that is at the same time familiar to my European eyes, and fascinatingly different. ThefirsttimeIvisitedJapanin2003,thiswas—quiteironicallyinthecontextof this volume—on invitation by the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry(CRIEPI)andtheJapanScienceandTechnologyAgency(JST),todiscuss new forms of citizens’ participation in locating power stations. Ever since, I have been struck by the potential richness of conversations between East and West, between Japan and Europe/US. The founding of the Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies (JSSTS) in 2001 and the successful large international conferencethatJSSTSorganizedwiththeSocietyforSocialStudiesofScience(4S) inTokyoin2010haveunderlinedhowfruitfulsuchSTS-inspiredcomparisonsand conversations can be. It is a triviality to note that societies differ, also in their socio-technical make- up. More interesting is the question whether STS, as an emerging discipline that studiessuchsocietiesasconstitutedbyscienceandtechnology,differsbetweenthe various subcontinents of our globe too. Readers are invited to explore in this volume whether there is something as a Japanese style of doing STS. The volume certainly provides an illuminating view of Japanese society. ix x ForewordbyWiebeE.Bijker In the case of this volume moreover, the STS authors do more than study Japanese society and the triple disaster. They engage with the burning societal questions that were generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Japanese STS researchers have reacted to the Fukushima events by joining government advisory committees, doing post-disaster communication, conducting policy experiments such as deliberative polling, participating in public discussions and providing historicalandcriticalanalysesofwhattheJapanesecitizenssawhappeningaround them.AndfinallytheyintensivelycontributedwithSTScolleaguesfromabroadto help the IAEA and Fukushima Medical University to develop an STS-inspired curriculum to better prepare medical doctors for events such as the triple disaster. Thisbook,insum, notonly provides anenlightening analysis oftheGreatEast Japan Earthquake, but also offers an intriguing view of Japanese techno-scientific culture,andgivesaninspiringexampleofhowSTSscholarscouldengagewiththe world around them. Wiebe E. Bijker Professor of Technology and Society Maastricht University Past-President Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Preface The Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents after an earthquake in March 2011 have drawn the world’s attention to the relationship between science, technology and society in the high-technology setting of Japan. For example, how are the nuclearpowerplantsembeddedinpolitical,economicandsocialcontextsinJapan? Underwhatkindsofrelationshipsbetweenscience,technologyandsocietyaresuch accidents produced? In addition, how are these relationships constructed histori- cally? This book provides a case analysis on the Triple Disaster (i.e. earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plants) to address the first two questions and also provides analysis on Minamata disease (Mercury pollution) and Itai-Itai disease (Cadmium pollution) to examine the last question. The first question is one that I received from Ulrike Felt, Professor at the University of Vienna, just after the earthquake in April 2011. Professor Felt posed this question at the “STS 20+20” (Science and Technology Studies: The Next Twenty: A conference reflecting on the past 20 years of STS graduate study and looking ahead to the next 20) at Harvard University. This is a very important questionforanalysingtheFukushimaaccidentsfromtheperspectivesfromScience and Technology Studies. Since the conference, we Japanese researchers have eagerly examined this first question as well as the second question; for example, I chaired and played an discussant in the joint plenary of the History of Science Society (HSS), the Society for History of Science (SHOT), and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) in Cleveland on November 3, 2011, on “Dealing with Disasters: Perspectives on Fukushima from the History and Social Studies of ScienceandTechnology”.Discussionshavealsobeendevelopedinthesessionsat the4SandtheEuropeanAssociationofScienceandTechnologyStudies(EASST) joint conference in October 2012 in Copenhagen. We make full use of these dis- cussions in four chapters in Part I. Toanswerthelastquestion,wedealwithseveralcaseanalysesinPartII.These analyses are based on the Japanese STS textbook edited in 2005 in Japanese as a result of a project funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The projectbeganinJanuary2002,andwereceivedhelpfuladvicefromSheilaJasanoff, a Professor at Harvard University, at the Science and Democracy Meeting held in xi
The list of books you might like
