Japan's Nuclear Crisis

Susan Carpenter analyses the impact of Japan's 2011 nuclear crisis on the Japanese political economy. She defines pertinent political and economic elements intrinsic to the political economy to reveal why the nuclear plant was still operating despite numerous problems that had been plaguing the reactors since 1989. Her investingation of the disaster exposes the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry- affiliated institutions which have been at the core of the nuclear and electric power industries since the 1950s. The examination of how these and other government-affiliated organizations serve to promote interpersonal networks betweenministry officials, the utilities and the nuclear energy industrial sector answers questions as to why Japan's nuclear crisis was an impending disaster, why the regulatory supervision failed, why there are fifty-four nuclear power plants in an earthquake-prone country, and why, despite the growing opposition to nuclear power in Japan, the plants will continue to operate. The assessment of pre-crisis national and regional economic data allows a realistic forecast of the pace of Japan's post-crisis economic recovery.