ABSTRACT
The activist response to the Fukushima disaster in Tokyo emerged out of existing activist cultures in the metropolis. This chapter examines some of the themes that emerge from the case studies and suggests their continuing relevance to the new struggles that began after Abe's election victory in December 2012. It discusses the increasing precarity of life and work in post-industrial Tokyo, the contestation of space and the struggle for democracy. The chapter also suggests that recent struggles in Tokyo have produced a new 'common sense': a set of widely shared ideas and tools for taking political action that transcends any one issue and now inform a multitude of social movements in the metropolis. In the post-Fukushima world, tensions over nuclear power within the established political parties and the bureaucracy as well as in the business community have also increased. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book.
