JAPN498N

The 2011 nuclear meltdowns at Japan s Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant-precipitated by a colossal earthquake and tsunami captured the world s attention as contaminated water escaped into the Pacific Ocean and man-made radioactive isotopes were caught up in global air flows. An atomic disaster rivaling Chernobyl, "Fukushima" has invited questions about why the only nation that has been attacked by atomic weapons during wartime so willingly adopted nuclear power. This Cultural Studies course not only critically investigates the historical trajectory of nuclear power in postwar Japan but also engages with diverse messages of artists who address nuclear power generally or Fukushima particularly in speculative fiction, poetry, cinema, manga, music, and more. We will also study issues of nuclear power in the Korean peninsula and more broadly in Asia.