New Books on Japan: "Nuclear Ghost: Atomic Livelihoods in Fukushima's Gray Zone"

January 17, 2024 | 7:00-8:30 PM EST | REGISTER FOR ZOOM

Nuclear Ghost: Atomic Livelihoods in Fukushima's Gray Zone (University of California Press, 2023)

Author: Ryo Morimoto, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University

Discussant: Anne Allison, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University

The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Ryo Morimoto (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University). Professor Morimoto will be speaking about his new book, Nuclear Ghost: Atomic Livelihoods in Fukushima's Gray Zone (University of California Press, 2023). Nuclear Ghost takes us deep into the liminal zone of evacuated, post-cataclysm Minamisōma, a town powerfully affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. "There is a nuclear ghost in Minamisōma" is how one resident described a mysterious experience following the disaster. Investigating this nuclear ghost among the graying population, Professor Morimoto examines radiation’s shapeshifting effects. What happens if state authorities, scientific experts, and the public disagree about the extent and nature of the harm caused by the accident? In one of the first in-depth ethnographic accounts of coastal Fukushima written in English, Nuclear Ghost tells the stories of a diverse group of residents who aspire to live and die well in their now irradiated homes. Their determination to recover their land, cultures, and histories for future generations provides a compelling case study for reimagining relationality and accountability in an ever-atomizing world. Anne Allison (Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University) will serve as discussant.