Eiko Otake and William Johnston - A Body in Fukushima

This book is dedicated to the people and land of Fukushima and to the memories of Sam Miller and Kyoko Hayashi

EIKO OTAKE + WILLIAM JOHNSTON

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT

THIS IS A BOOK OF FUKUSHIMA. THIS IS A BOOK OF WAILING AND UPSET , inhabiting time after March 11, 2011 and imagining time before then. This is a book of the irradiated landscape of Fukushima. This is a book of violence, and of disasters, fast and slow. This is a book of people, mountains, fields and the sea. This book is A Body in Fukushima: the body of a performeran immigrant artist from Japan, and the body of a historian who is also a photographer, and the body of the land itself.

We traveled together to Fukushima five times between 2014 and 2019. Eiko performed in the disrupted landscapes. Bill photographed the performances. Together we selected the photographs and writings for this book, and Bill wrote the captions.

The year 2021 marks the tenth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Timelinein the book extends to include a deeper history that is part of this tragedy and this place. And Places Visitedshows the coastline where we performed and photographed. We hope that these images allow you to enter Fukushima, to feel and smell it.

EO & WJ

Fukushima Prefecture is divided into multiple domains ( han); in 1868, the han of Aizu violently opposes the new imperial government.

Fukushima Prefecture, because of historic opposition to the imperial government, is branded as traitorous to the emperor and remains politically disadvantaged for decades.

During the Meiji era, industrial pollution results in environmental catastrophes in several parts of Japan, and central and local governments respond slowly, if at all. The most egregious disaster is at the Ashio Copper Mine in Tochigi Prefecture, south of Fukushima.

Following World War One, Japan experiences a major economic downturn, and Fukushima Prefecture is badly affected. Farmers here suffer high taxes and lower prices for their crops, so that many go into debt and become tenant farmers. These changes are widespread during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and many farmers choose to go to urban areas seeking factory work.

During World War Two, many residents of northeast Japan (Tohoku), including Fukushima, support Japanese expansionism and militarism.

On August 6, Americans explode a nuclear bomb made of uranium-235 over Hiroshima, killing approximately 120,000 civilians and 20,000 military personnel.

On August 9, a bomb made of plutonium-239 explodes over Nagasaki, killing at least 74,000, almost all civilians. Japan surrenders on August 15.