Research Article
“Support by Eating?” Life Politics for Reconstruction: Mobilization in ‘State of Exception’ and Attempt at Normalization of Fukushima through Politics of Expertise
서강대학교 동아연구소
Published: January 2021 · Vol. 80, No. 0 · pp. 443-481
Full Text
Abstract
This study aims to explain the “Support by Eating” campaign, one of reconstruction of Fukushima policies developed from the life politics and politics of expertise. The Japanese government announced the new permissible levels of radioactivity in food and exposure based on the judgements of a few experts after the accident. And the government developed this logic further by claiming that if the radioactivity level is lower than the permissible level, then it must be safe. Based on this guideline developed from the claim that food from Fukushima is safe and permissible level outlined by the experts, Japanese government announced policies and campaigns for the reconstruction of Fukushima. But Japanese citizens criticized the government created these standards not out of the concern that it could pose as hazards to the citizens and can be modified to reflect the government's agendas or intentions. Furthermore, some counter experts suggested the danger of low-level exposure. Japanese citizens began to measure and monitor the food and environment and created an independent archive as an example of lay knowledge production. Regardless of these efforts, the government continued the Tabete Ouene, or “Support by Eating” campaign for the normalization of Fukushima, which resulted in making the lives of Japanese people a subject for the Fukushima food consumption. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident, combined with the catastrophic natural disaster, created a state of exception which a norm was strictly implemented and led Japanese people to consume Fukushima food as “exposed and bare lives”. Also, the accident was defined as the “state of exception,” but Fukushima was defined as the “normal state,” thus normalizing the area due to the life politics for the Fukushima food and the reconstruction of Fukushima policies. Therefore, based on this paradoxical mechanism of coexistence of “state of exception” and “normal state,” the life politics of the Japanese citizens continued.
