From Hiroshima to Fukushima: The political background to the nuclear disaster in Japan

This article from the World Socialist Web Site discusses how the US military, the nuclear industry, and other corrupting influences misguided the Japanese people, which in turn helped Japan, one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world, to become the "third largest nuclear power nation".

By a guest contributor 
23 June 2011

This is the first of a two-part article on the historical antecedents of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster of March 11, the meltdown of the nuclear reactor in Fukushima continues to alarm people all around the world. The world witnessed the events virtually live as one reactor building after another exploded and one of the planet’s most high-tech countries tried to quell the 770 000 terabecquerel (1) radioactivity unleashed from the meltdown with bucket and hose. Japan was desperate to convince the world that everything was under control.

Following the media reports from Japan, many people ask themselves why governments chose to gamble on nuclear power in such an earthquake-prone country—after the US and France, Japan is the world’s third largest nuclear power nation—and why the people of this land appeared to be so indifferent to the dangers of nuclear energy.

These are the questions we want to pursue.

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