Introduction

The theme of the 2018 symposium, “War and Peace: Militarism, Biopolitics, and the Environment in East Asia,” was intended to provoke critiques and reflections on colonial militarism that had devastated the region. As a transcultural image and metaphor, mushroom clouds signify the anthropogenic violence and destruction exemplified by wars and nuclear bombings. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines radiation ecologies and nuclear colonialism in the trans-Pacific, trans-indigenous context. It discusses how after the Great East Japan Disaster on March 11, 2011, the devastating aftermath of the tsunami reminded the people of the bombed-out places of World War II; moreover, the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants created another landscape, wherein nothing seemed to be changed except for the vanished humans. The chapter investigates the demolition of the military villages during the era of the Cold War in Taiwan from the perspective of critical plant study.