Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

National Solidarity of Food Insecurity: Food Practice and Nationalism in Post-3/11 Japan

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Feeding Japan

Abstract

The triple disaster in March 2011 triggered large-scale radioactive contamination in Japan’s prime area of agriculture production, resulting in the intensification of the sense of food risk among Japanese people. Simultaneously, agricultural production was highlighted as a medium for building a sense of solidarity with the devastated area – consuming food produced in the Tohoku region was portrayed as an act that provided the devastated region with the support it needed to move towards recovery. The overarching purpose of this chapter is to understand, firstly, whether such a solidarity of food risks was formed in post-3/11 Japan, and then, if so, even partially, how it operated politically and how individuals negotiated within it. To approach these questions, the first part of the chapter discusses the intricate relationship between the notion of risk and the sense of nationalism in the contemporary state governance system. The second part of the chapter goes on to examine the government campaign and elucidates the logic behind it. The third part of the chapter turns its attention to individuals’ manoeuvring, that is, their responses to the government campaign and the normative discourses that urged the building of this solidarity. By taking these steps, the chapter tries to identify in a concrete manner the politics of food risk in post-3/11 Japan.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Foucault, Security, Territory, Population, 29–53.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., 45.

  3. 3.

    MAFF, Shokuryō, nōgyō, nōson hakusho, 5.

  4. 4.

    Beck, Risk Society, 56.

  5. 5.

    Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics; also see Blyth, Great Transformations; Jessop, The Future of the Capitalist State. Burchell and Rose provide good overviews of the ways in which the mode of the operation of ‘governmentality’ changed in the advanced form of liberalism. See Burchell, ‘Liberal Government and Techniques of the Self’; Rose, ‘Governing “Advanced” Liberal Democracies’.

  6. 6.

    I have already discussed the neoliberal nature of institutional reforms since the 1990s in the areas of food regulation and family policy. See, for food regulation reform, Takeda, ‘The Governing of Family Meals’; ‘Securitizing Food in Japan’, and, for family policy reform, Takeda, ‘Structural Reform of the Family’; ‘Gender-Related Social Policy’.

    It is worth noting that the development of the Keynesian-type welfare state system in Japan was countered by the ‘Oil Shocks’ in the 1970s . This resulted in the limited scope of Japan’s welfare programmes as demonstrated by persistency in terms of its relatively lower level of social spending, stronger familialism and a larger role assigned to corporate welfare provision than its counterparts in international comparison. See Takekawa, Rentai to shōnin.

  7. 7.

    Rhodes, ‘The Hollowing Out of the State’; Strange, The Retreat of the State.

  8. 8.

    Weiss, The Myth of the Powerless State; Gamble, Politics and Fate; Jessop, ‘Capitalism and Its Future’; Jessop, The Future of the Capitalist State; Holliday, ‘Is the British State Hollowing Out?’; Piers and Peters, Governance, Politics and the State; Sørenson, The Transformation of the State.

  9. 9.

    Smith, Power and the State, 101–108.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., also see Bevir and Rhodes, Governance Stories.

  11. 11.

    Jessop, ‘Capitalism and Its Future’; Jessop, ‘The Rise of Governance’.

  12. 12.

    Smith, Power and the State, 199.

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., 200.

  15. 15.

    Beck, Risk Society, Chapter 8.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.; Beck, World Risk Society, 5.

  17. 17.

    Beck, Risk Society, 75.

  18. 18.

    Bauman, Liquid Love, 128.

  19. 19.

    Bauman, Wasted Lives, 39–46.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., 67–89.

  21. 21.

    For a brief discussion of the term nationalism from a perspective roughly similar to my own, please see Miroslav Hroch, European Nations, Chapter 1.

  22. 22.

    Gellner, Nations and Nationalism; Hobsbawn and Rangers, The Invention of Tradition; Anderson, Imagined Communities.

  23. 23.

    Azuma et al., ‘Kokka, bōryoku, nashonarizumu’, 20.

  24. 24.

    Flynn, Marsden and Smith, ‘Food Regulation and Retailing’.

  25. 25.

    Nōkyō refers to cooperatives organized and operated by those who engage in the agriculture sector across Japan. Local cooperatives are assembled within the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Association (Zen-noh), which has been regarded as one of the biggest interest groups closely tied with the LDP.

  26. 26.

    Takeda, ‘Fūdo gabanansu; Takeda, ‘Securitizing Food in Japan’.

  27. 27.

    Shōgenji, ‘Shin-nōsei wo dō miruka’.

  28. 28.

    MAFF, Shokuryō, nōgyō, nōson hakusho, 32.

  29. 29.

    Ibid.

  30. 30.

    Tokyo Denryoku Fukushima Genshiryoku Hatsudensho Jiko Chōsa Iinkai, Kokkai jikochō hōkokusho, 329; Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Dokuritsu Kenshō Iinkai, Chōsa/kenshō hōkokusho, 44.

  31. 31.

    MAFF, Shokuryō, nōgyō, nōson hakusho, 9.

  32. 32.

    MAFF, Shokuryō, nōgyō, nōson hakusho, 53; Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Dokuritsu Kenshō Iinkai, Chōsa/kenshō hōkokusho, 49.

  33. 33.

    The Sievert is the unit of several biophysical metrics, but essentially parametrizes the average biological damage due to the interaction of radiation with specific biological tissues. For more information, see Cherry, Sorenson and Phelps, Physics in Nuclear Medicine, 407–408 and 417–424.

  34. 34.

    The public comments can be accessed via the following link: https://www.fsc.go.jp/iken-bosyu/iken-kekka/kekka-risk_radio_230729.pdf.

  35. 35.

    Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Dokuritsu Kenshō Iinkai, Chōsa/kenshō hōkokusho, 121. Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio in particular received strong criticism for his conduct regarding risk communication. See Ibid.; Yomiuri Shinbun Seiji-bu, Bōkoku no shushō.

  36. 36.

    Ibid.

  37. 37.

    Maeda, ‘Minshu-tō seiken’, 313–322.

  38. 38.

    Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Dokuritsu Kenshō Iinkai, Chōsa/kenshō hōkokusho, 119.

  39. 39.

    My argument here is not to defend the DPJ’s management of the Triple Disaster and its aftermath. Rather, I concur with the conclusion of the Independent Commission cited above. At the same time, I would argue that the LDP’s performance would not have been largely different from the DPJ’s, due to the institutional deficiencies and ungovernability of risk, if they had been in government. In other words, the main point here is that the problem was not only about Kan Naoto, as suggested by mainstream media sources.

  40. 40.

    Beck, Risk Society, 50–62.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., 74–75.

  42. 42.

    Kageura, 3.11-igo no hōshanō ‘anzen’, 35.

  43. 43.

    Food Safety Committee, ‘Hōshasei busshitsu’, 8.

  44. 44.

    Beck, Ulrich. ‘Kono kikai ni’, 9–10.

  45. 45.

    The whole text of the message can be read at: http://www.maff.go.jp/j/shokusan/eat/tabete/message.html.

  46. 46.

    MAFF, aff, 2.

  47. 47.

    Zensuioroshi, ‘Chiiki kyōgikai dayori 66’, 59.

  48. 48.

    Stories are generally taken from the Eat and Support websites (http://syokuryo.jp/tabete_ouen/) and its dedicated official YouTube site (https://www.youtube.com/user/tabeteouen).

  49. 49.

    A quick search of the National Diet Library catalogue indicates their oldest material discussing reputation damage is an article on a court decision concerning reputation damage and the Nuclear Power Station in 1989. Then, there are four items in the 1990s. The first one is a JSPS research-in-aids report on nuclear accidents and accident compensation schemes for workers dating from 1994. The other three publications were released in 1999 (two on dioxin contamination in Tokorozawa and one on the Tōkai-mura Nuclear accident by renowned journalist Kei Kamata). All other items on the subject were published after the year 2000.

  50. 50.

    Yokota, Aratana risuku kari, 66.

  51. 51.

    Kageura, 3.11-igo no hōshanō ‘anzen’, 111.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Consumer Affairs Agency, ‘Shoku no anzen ni’, 21–26.

  54. 54.

    Yokota, Aratana risuku kari, 68.

  55. 55.

    Katō, ‘Intānetto monitā ankēto’, 57.

  56. 56.

    Yokota, Aratana risuku kari, 73–76.

  57. 57.

    Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Jōhō Tsūshin Hakusho, 274. A sociologist, Igarashi Yasuamsa, conducted a survey targeting young mothers in Kashiwa City, Chiba and reported the same tendency of a low degree of trust in the government as an information source. See Igarashi, Minna de kimeta, 43.

  58. 58.

    Yabe, ‘Hibaku fubyōdū ron’, 174.

  59. 59.

    Beck, Risk Society, 64–69.

  60. 60.

    Renn, Risk Governance; Sunstein, Worst-Case Scenarios.

  61. 61.

    Igarashi, Minna de kimeta; Oguma, Genpatsu wo tomeru hitobito.

Bibliography

  • Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azuma, Hiroki, Toshihito Kayano, Akihiro Kitada, Satoshi Shirai, and Takeshi Nakajima. ‘Kokka, bōryoku, nashonarizumu’ [The State, Violence and Nationalism]. In Shisō chizu Volume 1: Tokushū Nippon [Mapping Thoughts Volume 1: Japan], eds.. Hiroki Azuma and Akihiro Kitada, 6–60. Tokyo: Nippon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Zygmunt. Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcast. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Ulrich. Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Publications, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Ulrich. World Risk Society. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Ulrich. ‘Kono kikai ni: Fukushima, aruiwa sekai risuku shakai ni okeru nihon no mirai’ [On This Occasion: Fukushima, or the Future of Japan in the World Risk Society]. In Risuku-ka suru Nihon shakai [Japan Becoming Risk Society], eds. Munenori Suzuki and Midori Itō, 1–12. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevir, Mark, and R. A. W. Rhodes. Governance Stories. Abingdon, OX: Routledge, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blyth, Mark. Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burchell, Graham. ‘Liberal Government and Techniques of the Self’. In Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-liberalism and Rationalities of Government, eds. Andrew Barry, Thomas Osborne, and Nikolas Rose, 19–36. Abingdon, OX: Routledge, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherry, Simon R., James A. Sorenson, and Michael E. Phelps. Physics in Nuclear Medicine. 4th Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Consumer Affairs Agency. ‘Shoku no anzen ni kansuru shōhisha no ishiki chōsa: kekka hōkokusho’ [A Survey on Consumer Consciousness Towards Food Safety: Results]. Consumer Affairs Agency. 2011. http://www.caa.go.jp/jisin/pdf/110715press.pdf.

  • Flynn, Andrew, Terry Marsden, and Everard Smith. ‘Food Regulation and Retailing in a New Institutional Context’. The Political Quarterly 74, 1 (2003): 38–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Food Safety Committee. ‘Hōshasei busshitsu wo fukumu shokuhin ni kansuru Q&A’ [Q&A on Food Contaminated by Radioactive Materials]. Food Safety Commission. 2011. http://www.fsc.go.jp/sonota/emerg/radio_hyoka_qa.pdf.

  • Foucault, Michel. Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977–78. trans. Graham Burchell, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–79. trans. Graham Burchell, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko Dokuritsu Kenshō Iinkai [The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission]. Chōsa/kenshō hōkokusho [Investigation Report]. Tokyo: Discover 21, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, Andrew. Politics and Fate. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Genshiroku Anzen Iinkai [Nuclear Safety Commission]. ‘Genshiryoku shisetsu tō no bōsai taisaku ni tsuite’ [On Disaster Prevention Measures Concerning the Nuclear Sites and Related Facilities], 2012. http://www.nsr.go.jp/archive/nsc/anzen/sonota/houkoku/bousai220823.pdf.

  • Hobsbawn, Eric and Terrence Rangers (eds.) (1983). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holliday, Ian. ‘Is the British State Hollowing Out’. The Political Quarterly 71, 2 (2000): 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hroch, Miroslav. European Nations: Explaining Their Formations. London: Verso, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Igarashi, Yasumasa. Minna de kimeta anshin no katachi [The Mode of Cooperatively-Established Security]. Tokyo: Aki Shobō, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, Bob. ‘Capitalism and Its Future: Remarks on Regulation, Government and Governance’. Review of International Political Economy 4, 3 (1997): 561–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, Bob. ‘The Rise of Governance and the Risks of Failure: The Case of Economic Development’. International Social Science Journal 50, 155 (1998): 29–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, Bob. The Future of the Capitalist State. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kageura, Kyō. 3.11-igo no hōshanō ‘anzen’ hōdō wo yomitoku [Reading Media Reports on Nuclear Safety in the Aftermath of 3/11]. Tokyo: Gendai Kikakushitsu, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katō, Tomoe. ‘Intānetto monitā ankēto kara miru kumiaiin no hōshanō kihi ishiki nitusite’ [The Avoidance Attitudes of the Co-op Members Concerning the Nuclear Crisis Learned from an Internet Survey]. Seikatsu Kyōdō Kumiai Kenkyū 458 (2014): 51–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maeda, Yukio. ‘Minshu-tō seiken ni taisuru yūkensha no hyōka’ [The Voters’ Assessment of the DPJ Governments]. In Tōchi no jōken: minshu-tō ni miru seiken un’ei to tōnai tōchi [The Condition of Governance: The Management of the Government and Party Governance of the DPJ], eds. Yukio Maeda and Hidenori Tsutsumi, 291–325. Tokyo: Chikura Shobō, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery. Maff: Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries 42, 6. Tokyo: MAFF, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery. Shokuryō, nōgyō, nōson hakusho [Annual Report on Food, Agriculture and Rural Area in Japan]. Ōita: Saeki Insatsu, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Jōhōtsūshin hakusho [Whitepaper on Information and Communications in Japan]. Tokyo: Gyōsei, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oguma, Eiji. Genpatsu wo tomeru hitobito [People Stopping the Nuclear Power Stations]. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piers, Jon and B. Guy Peters. Governance, Politics and the State. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renn, Ortwin. Risk Governance: Coping with Uncertainty in a Complex World. London: Earthscan, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, R. A. W. ‘The Hollowing Out of the State: The Changing Nature of the Public Service in Britain’. The Political Quarterly 65, 2 (1994): 138–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, Nikolas. ‘Governing “Advanced” Liberal Democracies’. In Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-liberalism and Rationalities of Government, eds. Andrew Barry, Thomas Osborne, and Nikolas Rose, 37–64. Abingdon, OX: Routledge, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shōgenji, Shinichi. ‘Shin-nōsei wo dō miruka’ [How Can We Understand the New Agriculture Policy?]. Nōgyō to Keizai 76, 2 (2010): 5–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Martin J. Power and the State. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sørenson, Georg. The Transformation of the State: Beyond the Myth of State Retreat. London: Palgrave, 2004.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Strange, Susan. The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein, Cass R. Worst-Case Scenarios. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Takeda, Hiroko. ‘Structural Reform of the Family and the Neoliberalisation of Everyday Life in Japan’. New Political Economy 13, 2 (2008): 153–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takeda, Hiroko. ‘The Governing of Family Meals’. In Changing Families, Changing Food, Peter Jackson, 165–184. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takeda, Hiroko. ‘Fūdo gabanansu no hikaku jendā bunseki’ [A Comparative Gendered Analysis of Food Governance]. In Jendā shakaikagaku no kanōsei Volume 4 kōseina gurōbaru komyunitei wo [The Future of Gendered Social Sciences Volume 4: In Search of a Fair Global Community], eds. Miyoko Tsujimura and Mari Ōsawa, 147–168. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takeda, Hiroko. ‘Gender-Related Social Policy’. In The Handbook of Japanese Politics, ed. Alisa Gaunder, 212–222. Abingdon, OX: Routledge, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takeda, Hiroko. ‘Securitizing Food in Japan: Global Crises, Domestic Problems and a Neoliberal State’. In Governing Insecurity in Japan: The Domestic Discourse and Policy Response, eds. Wilhelm Vosse, Reinhard Drifte, and Verena Blechinger-Talcott, 92–112. Abingdon, OX: Routledge, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takekawa, Shōgo. Rentai to shōnin: gurōbaru-ka to kojin-ka no nakano fukushi kokka [Solidarity and Recognition: the Welfare State in the Process of Globalization and Individualization]. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokyo Denryoku Fukushima Genshiryoku Hatsudensho Jiko Chōsa Iinkai [The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission set up within the Diet]. Kokkai jikochō hōkokusho [Investigation Report]. Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, Linda. The Myth of the Powerless State. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yabe, Shirō. ‘Hibaku fubyōdō ron’ [On Inequality of Radioactive Exposure]. Gendai Shisō 40, 9 (2012): 167–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, Shigenaga. Aratana risuku kanri to ninshō seido no kōchiku: hōshasei busshitsu ni yoru shokuhin osen no genjitsu [The Building of a New Risk Management and Authorization System: The Reality of Food Contamination by Radioactive Materials]. Tokyo: Tsukuba Shobō, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yomiuri Shinbun Seiji-bu. Bōkoku no shushō: kantei kinō teishi no 180-nichi [Prime Minister Who Wrecked the Country: 180 Days of the Broken-down Prime Minister’s Office]. Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zensuioroshi. ‘Chiiki kyōgikai dayori 66: hisaichi shien fūhyō higai bokumetsu fea katte tabete ōen shiyō in Tsukiji’ [Newsletter 66: A Food Fair to Support the Devastated Areas and Stamp Out Reputation Damage: Buy, Eat and Support in Tsukiji]. Zensuioroshi 326 (2011): 59–61.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Hiroko Takeda

Authors
  1. Hiroko Takeda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroko Takeda .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Andreas Niehaus

  2. Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Tine Walravens

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Takeda, H. (2017). National Solidarity of Food Insecurity: Food Practice and Nationalism in Post-3/11 Japan. In: Niehaus, A., Walravens, T. (eds) Feeding Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50553-4_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50553-4_18

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50552-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50553-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation