ABSTRACT
The great earthquake that devastated northeastern Japan in March 2011 and the Fukushima Atomic Power Plant disaster have served to reacquaint the Japanese with the word kuuki and what that entails. In addition, the Fukushima disaster has reminded Europeans of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, which caused 33 direct casualties and uncountable indirect casualties and victims of radioactive contamination. In fact, news articles from Europe with titles such as “Anti-nuclear Kuuki Covers Europe” have made a strong impression on the Japanese mass media.
