Following the hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan saw a sharp increase in radioactivity levels in a range of foodstuffs. Yet the government encouraged the consumption of produce from northeastern Japan and failed to address contamination issues. In the past decade, writing about food consumption, production, and feeding became a prime way for authors to express political dissent. This presentation will focus on representations of food and feeding in texts published between 2012 and 2014 by Satō Yūya, Yoshimura Man’ichi, Kimura Yūsuke, and Tawada Yōko. Through the theoretical lens of the Capitalocene, it will show how the authors criticize authoritarian tendencies in the post-nuclear age and question conventional practices of food consumption. This lecture kicks off the new DIJ lecture series Environmental Humanities in East Asia, organised by Barbara Geilhorn. Lectures in this series will address the damage/protection of our environment, ecocriticism, climate change, the relation between human beings, nature and other living beings. Details and registration here

Speakers:
Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt, Nagoya University & Aidana Bolatbekkyzy, University of Oregon