Disasters and Social Crisis in Contemporary Japan

Barbara Ambros, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Simon Avenell, Australian National University. Tim Graf, Heidelberg University, Germany, and Tohoku University, Japan. Phoebe Holdgrün, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Japan. Barbara Holthus, University of Vienna, Austria. Rikki Kersten, Murdoch University, Australia. Love Kindstrand, University of Chicago, USA. Jeff Kingston, Temple University, Japan. Keiko Nishimura, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Rumi Sakamoto, The University of Auckland, New Zealand. Ria Shibata, University of Otago, New Zealand. David H. Slater, Sophia University, Japan. Rebecca Suter, University of Sydney, Australia.

• Introduction; Mark R. Mullins and Koichi Nakano PART I: POLITICAL RESPONSES 1. New Right Transformation in Japan; Koichi Nakano 2. Military Force as Social Good: The Legacies of Operation Tomodachi; Rikki Kersten 3. Downsizing Fukushima and Japan's Nuclear Re-launch; Jeff Kingston 4. Japan's Identity Crisis and the Sino-Japanese Relations; Ria Shibata PART II: RELIGIOUS RESPONSES 5. Neo-Nationalism, Politics, and Religion in Post-disaster Japan; Mark R. Mullins 6. Mobilizing Gratitude: Contextualizing Tenrikyo's Response after the Great East Japan Earthquake; Barbara Ambros 7. Buddhist Responses to the 3.11 Disasters in Japan; Tim Graf PART III: SOCIAL RESPONSES 8. Kobe 1995: Crisis, Volunteering, and Active Citizenship in Japan; Simon Avenell 9. Crisis and Opportunity: Social Media in Kobe, Tohoku, and Tokyo; David Slater, Love Kindstrand, and Keiko Nishimura 10. Babysteps Towards Advocacy: Mothers Against Radiation; Phoebe Holdgrun and Barbara Holthus PART IV: CULTURAL RESPONSES 11. Kobayashi Yoshinori, 3.11, and Datsu Genpatsu Ron; Rumi Sakamoto 12. Beyond Kizuna: Murakami Haruki on Disaster and Social Crisis; Rebecca Suter

“The present volume edited by Mark Mullins and Koichi Nakano, on the other hand, aims for a far more deeply contextualized understanding of the human impacts … . One of its unique features is that, through parallel studies, it provides fruitful comparisons between the two major ‘disaster years’ of recent Japanese history … this book is an important and original contribution to the growing multidisciplinary field of disaster studies both in the Japanese and in the global context.” (Roy Starrs, Japanese Studies, Vol. 37 (2), September, 2017)“This book offers a strong collection of essays that will help readers understand more deeply Japan’s contemporary attitudes towards disaster. … these timely essays succeed in contextualizing and making sense of the recent political, religious, and sociocultural responses to catastrophe, and the collection is an important contribution to the multidisciplinary understanding of social struggle, crisis, and disaster in contemporary Japan.” (Pablo Figueroa, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 90 (1), March, 2017)