Fukushima Futures: Survival Stories in a Repeatedly Ruined Seascape

Fukushima Futures explores the complex relationship between commercial fishing families and the Joban Sea, examining the impact of maritime modernization on communities in postwar Japan. It challenges the progress-bound logic of futurism and presents more hopeful possibilities for the future.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 25 July 2023
Publisher: University of Washington Press

Anthropologist Satsuki Takahashi embarked on a remarkable journey to explore the lives and livelihoods of communities along Japan's industrialized seascape, both before and after the devastating 2011 Triple Disaster. This environmental ethnography delves into the intricate relationship between commercial fishing families and the Joban Sea, once renowned for its premium-quality fish, and now infamous as the site of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe.

Fukushima Futures offers a captivating perspective on postwar Japan's maritime modernization, focusing on the experiences of those intimately connected to its successes and challenges. In the face of relentless setbacks, including an earlier nuclear accident at neighboring Tokaimura and the devastating oil spills caused by stranded tankers during typhoons, these communities have developed innovative survival strategies shaped by their shared vulnerability with the marine ecosystem.

The collaborative resilience that emerges in this context of vulnerability and uncertainty poses a profound challenge to the progress-bound logic of futurism. It opens up more hopeful possibilities for the future, bringing them into sharper focus. Through their stories, Fukushima Futures sheds light on the complex interplay between human societies, the environment, and the forces of globalization, offering valuable insights into the resilience and adaptability of human communities in the face of adversity.

Weight: 306g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780295751344