ABSTRACT
The Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011 sent shockwaves around the world that continue to reverberate. Three major investigations into the nuclear meltdowns highlighted institutionalized complacency about safety that contested TEPCO’s self-exonerating report, eventually leading the utility to issue a mea culpa at the insistence of an international team of experts it had assembled to review internal data and documents. In Fukushima there are now two museums commemorating the nuclear disaster, one run by TEPCO and the other by the prefecture. These museums offer contrasting narratives, with the prefecture emphasizing the consequences for local communities in diorama, objects, signs and photographs that convey the lingering trauma. At the outset of the tour, the TEPCO museum offers a videotaped apology and images of the disaster, but the remainder of the exhibits focus on scientific and technical details that sidestep the trauma inflicted. Drawing on fieldwork, interviews, various reports and relevant literature, this chapter explores these competing narratives and what they signify in contemporary Japan.
