It finally dawned on us. The government was unreliable. Politicians and bureaucrats were unreliable. The media were untrustworthy. The brutal reality hit us that we had to protect ourselves...otherwise bury our heads in the sand or give up altogether.' Written in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of March 2011, Koichi Hasegawa's Beyond Fukushima presents a compelling account of the events of 3/11 against the backdrop of the history and geopolitics of the nuclear industry worldwide. The book begins with the accident and its immediate impact on Japan and then expands to form a critical analysis of the global nuclear power industry, providing a framework through which to explain Japan's continued reliance on nuclear power despite widespread public concern. Hasegawa's analysis is convincing. He argues passionately for denuclearization and is highly critical of the Japanese Government for failing to phase out nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima accident. In the final chapter, Hasegawa outlines steps toward a post-nuclear society, arguing strongly that this transformation must be made to avoid further catastrophe.

Reviews

With a sociological research background in public movement critiques of nuclear power dating back to 1988, the author is in the unique position of being able to present wide-ranging, up-to-date, pertinent data gathered over several decades. Hasegawa very effectively documents the multiple problems associated with the nuclear power industry in Japan in a global context. Highly recommended. -- Choice, Vol. 53, No. 10, July 2016 ***

Awards

Choice Magazine Editors' Top 75 Community College Resources for July 2016

About Editors and Authors

HASEGAWA Koichi is a Japanese sociologist and Professor in the Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University. He obtained a PhD in Sociology from the University of Tokyo in 2004 and is renowned for his research on environmental sociology. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1977 and after working as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Literature, University of Tokyo, moved to Tohoku University in 1984 where he took up a lecturing position in the Faculty of Liberal Arts. He served as Associate Professor from 1987 before being appointed to his current position in 1997.