The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 10 | Issue 42 | Number 2 | Oct 14, 2012

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Life-world: Beyond Fukushima and Minamata「いのちの世界」:フクシマとミナマタを超えて

Shoko YONEYAMA

Key words: Fukushima, Minamata, WorldRiskSociety, nuclear disaster, modernity,e n v i r o n m e n t a l e t h i c s ,connectedness,spirituality, soul, life-world,Ulrich Beck, Ogata Masato

1. Introduction

German sociologist Ulrich Beck writes thatJapan has become part of the ‘World RiskSociety’ as a result of the 2011 nuclearaccident in Fukushima.1 By World Risk Societyhe means a society threatened by such thingsas nuclear accidents, climate change, and theglobal f inancial cr is is , present ing acatastrophic risk beyond geographical,temporal, national and social boundaries.According to Beck, such risk is an unfortunateby-product of modernity, and poses entirelynew challenges to our existing institutions,which attempt to control it using current,known means.2 As Gavan McCormack pointsout, ‘Japan, as one of the most successfulcapitalist countries in history, represents inconcentrated form problems fac ingcontemporary industrial civilization as awhole’.3 The nuclear, social, and institutionalpredicaments it now faces epitomise thenegat ive consequences of intensivemodernisation.

The stalemate over nuclear energy – the restartof Ohi reactors and the massive citizens’protest against it – suggests that we are indeedat a significant crossroad. But what is theissue? A quick look at the anti-nucleardemonstrations shows that the slogan, ‘Life ismore important than money!’, is ubiquitous,suggesting that many citizens see a problem

not only with nuclear power generation butalso with something more fundamental: theprioritisation of economy over life. The fact thatsuch an obvious proposition has to be raised asa point of protest indicates the depth of theproblem. How is this rather extreme dichotomybetween life and the economy to be faced atthis point of modern history? And what will beJapan’s contribution, if any, in envisaging anew kind of modernity?

This paper explores these questions by drawingupon the notion of ‘life-world’ presented byOGATA Masato,4 a Minamata philosopher-fisherman whose ideas developed in responseto the Minamata disease disasters in themid-1950s.5 It discusses this concept in order toreflect on the relationship between nature andhumankind in an attempt to envision a newkind of modernity that does not generate self-destructive risks as denoted by the notion of‘World Risk Society’.

2. World Risk Society Japan

The relevance of the concept of ‘World RiskSociety’ is obvious with regard to the disasterunleashed at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclearplant on 11 March 2011. There is no questionthat substantial radiation has been releasedfrom the stricken reactors. Tokyo ElectricPower Co. (TEPCO) estimated, based on datacollected at the plant, that 900,000 terra-becquerels of radioactive materials (iodine-131and caesium-137) were released into theatmosphere,6 which constitutes 17% of thefallout from Chernobyl;7 as well as 150,000terra-becquerels into the sea, in the first sixmonths after the accident alone. 8 An

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international scientific collaborative study, onthe other hand, estimated, based on datacollected from across the globe, thatcaesium-137 equivalent to 43% of theChernobyl emission was released into theatmosphere between 11 March and 20 April2011, 18% of which was deposited overJapanese land areas, with most of the restfalling over the North Pacific Ocean.9 Brumfielin Nature suggests that the vastly differentestimates may be complementary rather thancontradictory because the data were collectedat different, mutually exclusive locations.10

Experts fear that a catastrophe on an evenlarger scale could still occur. Koide Hiroaki, anuclear scientist at Kyoto University, warnsthat Japan ‘will be finished’ if approximately300 tons of spent nuclear fuel (4,000 times thesize of the Hiroshima atomic bomb) kept at thespent-fuel pool in the badly damaged No. 4reactor building, release radiation as a result ofa cooling failure caused by, for instance,another earthquake.11 If this happens, theentire Fukushima nuclear complex will becomeinaccessible, leading to radioactive emissionson a cataclysmic scale, perhaps 85 times asgreat as Chernobyl.1 2 TEPCO reportedpreviously that as of March 2010 there were1,760 and 1,060 tons of uranium at FukushimaDaiichi and Daini, respectively.13 A simplecalculation, based on Koide’s estimate above,suggests that this is equivalent to 28,000Hiroshima bombs. A ‘chain reaction’ involvingall six reactors and seven spent fuel pools atthe complex was envisioned as the ‘worst casescenario’ by Kondo Shunsuke, Chairman of theJapan Atomic Energy Commission, in his reportsubmitted to the government two weeks afterMarch 11. The report, which was suppressedby the government, concludes that if the ‘chainreaction’ happens, the exclusion zone may haveto be greater than 170km.14 Tokyo is 220kmaway from the plant. Kondo’s report thus islargely consistent with Koide’s prediction,although they hold opposite positions on thequestion of nuclear power generation.

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor No.4, May2012.

TEPCO insists that the No. 4 reactor buildingcan withstand an earthquake equivalent to thequake of March 11,1 5 and the Japanesegovernment has accepted the utility’s plan tostart removing the spent fuel from the end of2013, a task that would then take two years tocomplete.16 But Arnie Gundersen, a formernuclear power industry executive, disagreeswith TEPCO's risk assessment. He says that‘TEPCO is not moving fast enough and theJapanese Government is not pushing TEPCO tomove fast enough either, [and] the top priorityof TEPCO and the Japanese Government shouldbe to move the fuel out of that pool as quicklyas possible.’17 As if to highlight these concerns,the region has had an elevated frequency ofearthquakes since March 2011.

Tasaka Hiroshi, a nuclear engineer and SpecialAdvisor to the Cabinet in 2011, warns that a‘sense of unfounded optimism’ among political,bureaucratic and business leaders ‘presents thebiggest risk since the government declared theconclusion of the nuclear disaster at the end of2011’.18 Likewise, Gundersen points out thatthe leaders of earthquake-prone Japan ‘chose,in the face of serious warnings, to consciouslytake chances that risked disaster’;19 and that ‘adismissive attitude to the risks of nuclearaccidents’ is at the core of the problem.20 On

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October 12, 2012, TEPCO’s president for thefirst time stated that the utility could havemitigated the impact of the meltdowns if it haddiversified power and cooling systems bypaying closer attention to internationalstandards.21 In relation to the risk posed by thespent fuel pool in reactor No. 4 building,systemic inertia continues. Japan constitutes apotentially catastrophic risk to itself, to itsneighbours, and to the world.

3. Sociological Theories on Late/SecondModernity and the Question of Ethics

The inability of TEPCO and the Japanesegovernment to take effective action in the faceof a nuclear crisis, however, is to be expectedto some extent, if, as Beck maintains, world riskis an unfortunate by-product of modernity.After all, corporations such as TEPCO andnation-states such as Japan play a central rolein pursuing economic development, whichcommonly correlates with maximisingcorporate profit. To the extent that Japan’smodernisation was rapid and successful untilrecently, the risk it now carries is great. Ifindeed the nuclear accident is a by-product ofmodernity, prevention of future accidents willhave to involve a transformation of the socialsystem that is key to modernity.

The concept of world risk society representsthe conundrum of the era in which we live: ahighly industrialised society since around the1980s, which sociologists variously refer to as‘late modern’ (Giddens),22 ‘second modern’(Beck),23 or ‘liquid modern’ (Bauman).24 Thisera is distinguished from the earlier, ‘first’ or‘solid’ modern in that in the late/second/liquidmodernity individualisation of socialinstitutions advances, and social bonds, whichconnected individuals to modern institutionssuch as the (predominantly nuclear) family,(reasonably stable) workplace and, and in thecase of the West, (still influential) church,weaken. Instead, living one’s own life, andpursuing individual life projects has become

t h e c o m m o n d e n o m i n a t o r o f t h elate/second/liquid modern in the advancedindustrial countries.25 The question is what canprovide an ethical foundation in the face of aworld risk that can jeopardise our ownexistence, when the risk itself is the product ofthe social system in which we live.26

In order to explore this question, the reportfrom the Ethics Commission for a Safe EnergySupply, which was convened by GermanChancellor Angela Merkel immediately after3.11, and of which Beck was a key member,presents a significant point of reference. Itreads:

The progressive destruction of the environmenthas prompted the cal l for ecologicalresponsibility – not only since nuclear accidentsand not only in this area. It is a matter of howhumans interact with the natural environmentand the relationship between society andnature. A special human duty towards naturehas resulted from Christian tradition andEuropean culture.27

There are two significant points to note aboutthis statement. One is that it draws upon aspiritual tradition – that of Christianity - as thefoundation of its ethical position. The other isthat it highlights Europe as the cultural basis ofits ethics. While this ethical foundation may besuitable in the context of Europe, it leaves aquestion of what might be an appropriateethical and cultural foundation in other worldregions. Given the fact that Asia plays anincreasingly significant role in relation toglobal warming and nuclear accidents, whichare two key issues in the World Risk Society, itseems urgent to address this question at thiscritical juncture of human history. In the frameof this broad theoretical concern, this paperexplores the specific question: what ethicalfoundation might Japan draw on to frame itsfuture in response to the multiple crisis postedby the March 11, 2011 disaster?

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4. Minamata and Fukushima in Japan’smodern history

Figure 1 shows Japan’s economic growth from1955-2010 by GDP growth rate (shown by thered line with the corresponding percentagerange on the left) and the nominal GDP (shownby the histogram with the scale on the right).28

The different colours of the bar chart indicatethree distinct economic periods: the higheconomic growth period (1955-1973 indicatedin pink), the stable growth period (1974-1990in blue), and the post-bubble low growth period(1991-2010 in green). The graph begins in1955 , the f ina l year o f the pos twarreconstruction period according to the thenEconomic Planning Agency; the beginning ofJapan’s rapid economic growth period; theonset of the ‘1955 system’ (one-party rule bythe Liberal Democratic Party which lasted until1993); and the beginning of Japan’s nuclearenergy policy with the enactment of the 1955Atomic Energy Basic Act.29 The star on the leftof the chart indicates the official 'discovery' in1956 of Minamata disease, large-scale methyl-mercury poisoning caused by industrial effluentfrom Japan’s leading chemical company,Chisso. The star on the right indicates the 2011nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. Itoccurred only days after China officiallydisplaced Japan as the world’s second largesteconomy.30 The incidents at Minamata andFukushima thus coincided almost exactly withthe beginning and the end of Japan’s period ofrise as an economic power and its positioningas the world’ second economic superpower,what might be called its period of supermodernisation.

In 2012, 56 years after the ‘discovery’ ofMinamata disease, with a sordid record ofcorporate denial, court battles by victims andsupporters stretching over decades, andcompensation for some victims, the Japanesegovernment is determined to bring politicalclosure to the Minamata disease problem byenforcing a strict deadline for applications forgovernment compensation under a special lawpassed in 2009. Applications closed at the endof July 2012, and over 65,000 people haveapplied to receive ‘relief measures’.31 Thisnumber does not include about 3,000 victimswho had been officially certified as Minamatadisease patients before 2010, under the moststringent 1977 criteria,32 and some 11,000sufferers who received a payout in 1995, anearlier attempt to bring political closure to theMinamata disease problem. These figures areindicative, in the sense of the tip of an iceberg,of the vast devastation caused by the industrialpollution in Minamata.

In response to the government push to achievea ‘final and complete’ solution yet again,individuals who have worked closely with thesufferers emphasise that Minamata disease willnot be over.33 Numerous people, includingcongenital Minamata disease patients acrossgenerations, some of whom now face the addedchallenges of advanced age, still sufferincapacity. Epidemiological studies byindependent medical researchers, includingone conducted in 2009, have repeatedly foundexpanding areas, and increasing numbers ofpeople affected by Minamata disease.34 The

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strongest sense of problem consciousness,however, comes from the realisation that thelessons of Minamata disease have not beenlearnt by those in power, either to prevent, orto adequately deal with the 2011 nucleardisaster: most notably, failure on the part ofadministration to take action to minimise harmand to adequately compensate victims. In thecase of Minamata disease, it was not until1968, twelve years after its official discovery,that the government took action to stopdischarge of the effluent. The year 1968 wasthe year when the Japanese economy becameNo. 2 in the world. It was not until 1973 thatthe first victims received compensation afterprotracted court struggles.

The crisis in Fukushima is even more serious inmany respects. In Fukushima, the level ofdevastation is extremely high, and as at August2012, approximately 111,000 people have beenforced to evacuate by the government with noor limited prospects of returning to theirhomes.35 The impact of the nuclear crisis isglobal rather than regional, and in respect ofthe ecosystem, it is not yet possible todetermine its ultimate impact. The underlyingpower structure of the Japanese 'nuclearvillage' is more formidable than that of Chisso.Its power is reinforced by close links to theinternational nuclear regime. The causal linkbetween exposure to the poison and illness ismuch harder to establish in the case ofirradiation: low level irradiation does not resultin distinctive symptoms as in Minamatadisease; it takes many years to manifest ascancer, the cause of which is difficult to singleout; and impact upon the unborn, infants andyoung children is unknown.

Namie became a ghost town

Nonetheless, there are important similaritiesbetween Fukushima and Minamata: bothinvo lve wide -sca le and i r revocableenvironmental destruction caused by humans;both occurred as a result of placing excessivefaith in flawed science; both were driven byrelentless pursuit of corporate profit and awarped vision of national development; bothwere promoted and supported by a collusiverelationship among national and localgovernments, bureaucracy, industry, themainstream-scientific community, and themedia (the nuclear village); both marginalisedcritical scientists; both sacrificed the wellbeingof local residents, reflected a deep-seateddiscrimination against rural people, andrevealed the structure of dependence of theperiphery on the core.36 Moreover, neithermethyl-mercury nor radiation can be detectedthrough our five senses, and victims areobliged to be dependent on the governmentand the offending industry for the release ofdata crucial to their life, data which are oftensubject to manipulation.37

5. ‘Connectedness’ as the Legacy ofMinamata and Fukushima

Seen from a different angle, the commonalitiesbetween Minamata and Fukushima can besummarised as a breakdown of connectednessat a multitude of levels: family (e.g. the impact

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of death or health impairment of a familymember, loss of housing, land and otherpossessions); (loss of) work; food production(farming and fishing); traditional and localways of life; and sense of connectedness withnature, past and future, ancestors anddescendants. Both disasters caused deepschisms and paralysis in affected communities.Minamata disease caused many rifts in thecommunity:38 depending on one’s positiontowards Chisso, e.g. whether or not oneadmitted to having Minamata disease, appliedfor certification as a Minamata disease patient,or pursued compensation. The nuclear disasterin Fukushima has also caused often invisiblerifts in the community and within families,depending on one’s stance on nuclear energy;whether to stay in Fukushima or not (especiallybetween mothers with young children whowanted to leave and in-laws who wanted themto stay); whether to consume locally producedfood or not; whether to work for TEPCO or not,etc. Physiologically, Minamata diseasedestroyed connectedness in the nervoussystem, whereas radiation severs theconnectedness in DNA and cells. If one of thecharacteristics of modernity is the weakeningconnectedness (of bonds between people andsociety), both Minamata and Fukushimaepitomise i t to i ts extreme, not onlysociologically but also biologically.

Is it any wonder then that connectednessemerged as a legacy of both Minamata andFukushima? The devastation of the March 11triple disasters met with overwhelmingsympathy, abundant aid, and offers of volunteerwork from other parts of Japan and all aroundthe world. Within the affected districts, peoplestrove to revive the spirit of the community, forexample, by efforts to salvage traditionalfestivals and seasonal events. The disastercreated a sense of cohesion in Japan. At the endo f 2 0 1 1 , t h e w o r d ‘ k i z u n a’ 絆(bond/connectedness) was chosen as the kanjicharacter that best symbolised the year ofdisasters.39 Indeed, the triple disaster affected

the people of Japan in profound ways. A publicopinion poll conducted in 2012 by the CabinetOffice found that almost 80 percent of the6,059 respondents indicated that they came torealise, after the 2011 disaster, the importanceof connectedness with society to a greaterextent than they did earlier.40

In the case of Minamata, the word ‘moyai’ 舫(mooring boats) has become its legacy,41

although it took nearly forty years for it toemerge as a key concept. The word was firstused officially in 1994 in a speech by the thenMinamata Mayor, Masazumi Yoshii. It wasOgata Masato, a Minamata fisherman andMinamata disease sufferer, however, who firstproposed the concept as a keyword for thefuture.4 2 He is one of the ‘creative andpersistent small leaders’ within the communitywith whom the Minamata patients have beenblessed',43 and one of the key persons inMinamata who can create new knowledge.44 Hewrites:

We have an expression, moyai,which I hold close to my heart… Itcomes from the verb moyau, whichmeans “to tie two boats together,”or “to moor a boat to a piling.” Forinstance, when we fished forsardines, two boats of the samesize would drag a net between

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them…. If a storm should blow upwhile we were fishing, we wouldtie our boat together with anotherand head for port. This, too, iscalled moyau. The other boatdidn’t necessarily belong to anacquaintance…. As we headed forport we would talk about ourfishing villages, how the fish wererunning, and so on…. Moyai beganas a fishing term, but it has beenapplied to other aspects of ourdaily lives…. It implies that a smallgroup of people will go somewhereand also return together. Villagersenjoy going places together.45

As Beck points out, different phases ofmodernity: pre-modern, first-modern andsecond-modern, have coexisted in the processof the modernisation of Japan.46 In post-3.11Japan, Minamata presents a vantage point withwhich to survey this multifaceted modernity.For Ogata this multiplicity has been his livedhistory, and the foundation of a philosophywhich is based on the notion of the life-worldthat puts the highest and absolute priority onlife. As touched upon earlier, ‘life overeconomy’ is a phrase often seen in the recentanti-nuclear demonstrations, so that ideasresonating with Ogata’s may well be developedbased on experiences of Fukushima.Meanwhile, as Beck points out, ‘we need a newframe of reference for the world risk society[from] non-Western countries’.47 What isattempted below is to construct such a frame ofreference by drawing on ideas that Ogatadeveloped in his fifty year struggle withMinamata disease.

This author had the occasion to interviewOgata in Minamata on 15-17 January 2012 andagain on 25 August 2012. What follows drawsupon these interviews as well as his twoautobiographies – Rowing the Eternal Sea: theStory of a Minamata Fisherman (1996 Japanese

and 2001 English) and Chisso wa watashi deatta [Chisso within] (2001). By drawing uponthese research materials, it is suggested belowthat:

1) Ogata’s philosophy of ‘life-world’ (いのちの世界・生命世界), developed from his critique ofmodernity, presents a notion of the worldwhere humans are envisaged as part of theconnectedness of all living beings, souls of theliving and the dead, and animate and inanimateelements of nature;

2) the philosophy is based on Japan’s culturaltradition of animism and may provide aspiritual basis for Japan (and possibly otherparts of Asia and beyond), constituting anethical foundation equivalent to that of the‘Christian tradition and European culture’; and

3) the philosophy has the potential to provide ‘anew frame of reference for the world risksociety [from] non-Western countries’48 bydirectly addressing the lacuna in (Western-made) social science: spirituality and nature.

6. A Critique of Modernity by a MinamataFisherman, OGATA Masato

Ogata Masato was born in 1953, three yearsbefore the ‘official discovery’ of Minamatadisease, the youngest chi ld of OgataFukumatsu, a leader of local fishermen. Hisfather died from acute Minamata disease whenMasato was six. Masato’s parents, eight of hissiblings and their children have all beenofficially certified as Minamata diseasepatients. Masato himself appl ied forcertification, and dedicated himself as a keymember of the Minamata Disease CertificationApplicants’ Council for over a decade(1974-85).

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Ogata Masato confronts governmentofficials with a banner that reads ‘Are youtelling us to wait until we die?’ (circa1983). Adopted with permission from Oiwaand Ogata (2001) Rowing the Eternal Sea,p.86.

Masato gradually became sceptical about thetrue meaning of compensation, however,withdrew his application for certification,which was a prerequisite for compensation, andleft the movement. As a result, he was isolatedand alienated from Minamata society. Morethan 25 years later, he explains his thoughts oncompensation with extraordinary clarity:

The biggest problem I had was whyeverything was decided by money.There has been a mass i vedevaluation of compensation. Thefirst compensation [in 1973]ranged from 16 to 18 million yenper patient, but in 1995, it was 2.6million, and then, 2.1 million(US$26K). The amount went down.This is the case for the lungdisease lawsuit (塵肺訴訟) andlawsuits over drug-inducedsuffering (薬害訴訟) as well. It wasas if life is traded in markets andwas devalued in the 40th (1995)and 50th markets [counting from

the outbreak of Minamata disease].With the compensation beingslashed like this, the biggestproblem is the very fact that theexistence of life itself (本来的生命存在) is calculated and convertedinto a commercial value. Thegovernment sees compensation asa ‘cost’. It is the same for TEPCOin relation to the nuclear disaster.49

1) If not money, what?

This deep scepticism about money, especially inits relationship to life, constitutes Ogata's mostfundamental critique of modernity. This led toan even more difficult question: ‘If not money,what?’50 The answer he gives is:

The original meaning of ‘nintei’ (認定certification), I think, is to ‘mitomeru’ (認めるcertify) a person’s existence. In the finalanalysis, the question is whether or not theperson’s existence is cherished (存在が愛されているか) in an equal dialogical relationship inwhich you ask a question and get a response(受け答えの関係) . What sufferers wantessentially is proof that they are cared for. Butsuch matters as certification of patients andenvironmental pollution are turned into aquestion of criteria. If the existence of sufferersis cherished, we wouldn’t have been left alonesuffering to begin with… My father died withintwo months of onset of the illness. When I thinkabout what my deceased father would havewanted to say, I think that it would be ‘I amhuman!’ (おらぁ人間ぞぉ). He wouldn’t havewanted to be certified as a Minamata diseasepatient!51

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Ogata Masato at the Minamata DiseaseCentre Soshisha 16 January 2012. Photo byS. Yoneyama

Ogata’s scepticism about money, however, doesnot make him simply an advocate of a pre-modern life style, or an outsider to modern life.Quite the contrary. He definitely sees himselfas part of the system of modern society.Moreover, he realises, reflexively, his ownposition in relation to Chisso, the perpetrator ofthe disease. This realisation did not come easilyto him. It meant shifting his position completelyfrom the safety of being a victim-sufferer-patient-plaintiff who expects and accepts theresponsibility of others, to someone who admitsto being on the side of the ‘accused’, thesystem that caused the Minamata disease. Itturned his life upside down to the extent that itcaused him to have a nervous breakdown. Inretrospect he writes:

What Chisso represented is aquestion we must ask ourselvestoday. This may sound abrupt but Ithink that Chisso might have beenanother me, myself…. The age welive in is a period driven by‘aff luence’, such as money,industries, and convenience. Oureveryday life is part of a large andcomplex system which is extremelydifficult to get out of. We are verymuch dominated by the values ofthe era that caused Minamatadisease. In the past forty years, Imyself bought a car and started todrive, and at home we have atelevision and a fridge, and theboat I use for work is made ofplastic. Many things in my homeare made of materials fromchemical factories like Chisso.Fifty years ago most of the PVC(polyvinyl chloride) used for waterpipes was made by Chisso. Morerecently, they make LCs (liquidcrystals). We are very much in a‘Chisso-ish’ (チッソ的) society. Ifwe narrow our thinking to onlyMinamata disease, Chisso isresponsible. However, in ahistorical sense, we are already‘another Chisso’. This societywhich has pursued ‘modernisation’and ‘affluence’ has been ourselves,has it not? A big question seems tome how we can break ourselvesfrom our own spell and liberateourselves (emphasis added).52

Ogata thus re-positioned himself in relation toChisso by recognising his own position in thebroader historical context of modernisation.This re-positioning is highly relevant today inrelation to the nuclear crisis and energyconsumption. Unless we find ways to liveindependent of electric- and nuclear power-

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generating utilities such as TEPCO, we can beregarded, strictly speaking, as ‘another TEPCO’in Ogata’s words. Here, he asks an importantquestion: how can we break ourselves from ourown spell and liberate ourselves? In relation toenergy, recent developments in Japan andelsewhere to switch to renewable energy, mayrepresent a step forward towards ‘liberation’.As will be discussed later, Ogata sees thepotential of renewable energy to provide aneconomic system that enables us to live more intune with the ‘life-world’. Whether it bechemical products (produced by companiessuch as Chisso) or energy (produced bycorporations such as TEPCO), however, thereremains a conceptual knot in the relationshipbetween modern human existence and naturethat is beyond a technical solution.

Ogata says his realisation that he is ‘anotherChisso’ led to an even more fundamental shift:namely, to reposition himself from withinhuman society alone, into a broader system ofthe ‘life-world’ of which human society is part.53

He says:

‘Then my eyes opened to nature. Iwas awakened to the life of nature.That was it!’54

He writes:

I was beginning to see thateverything is interrelated…. Grass,trees, birds, the sea, fish, humangestures, and words – expressionsof nature to which I had grownindifferent – all seemed to offersubtle hints…. I was drawn to thehills. When I spoke to the trees,they would answer. Of course, theydidn’t use human words. It wasmore like the voice of the wind,explaining to me in a different waywhat it meant to be alive. I was

participating in a communion ofliving spirits, in an exchange offeelings unencumbered by words.55

This awakening of his senses became thefoundation of Ogata’s philosophy of the ‘life-world’.

2) Being human in the life-world

It was not just humans who suffered and diedin the Minamata incident. Vast numbers ofother creatures, including fish, cats, birds, anddomestic pigs,56 died, and rich ecosystems suchas tidal zones were destroyed.57 These 'otherlives' have rarely been part of the mainstreamMinamata discourse.58 Ogata points out that itis the same with regard to the nuclear disasterin Fukushima. The damage humans inflict uponother living things is rarely discussed, and if itis mentioned, it is primarily as ‘trouble’: thetrouble caused by a loss of their commercialvalue, the danger we face as a result ofcontaminated food, or the nuisance associatedwith life that needs to be ‘destroyed’. It hasbeen reported that almost 3,000 cows, 30,000pigs and 600,000 chickens as well as numerouspets were left behind in the nuclear exclusionzone at Fukushima to starve to death.59 Arecent international study found that there hasbeen ‘a negative consequence of radiation forbirds immediately after the accident on 11March’.60 After shifting his position from that ofa victim of industrial pollution to that of beingpart of the social system that caused it, Ogatabegan to think about the responsibility ofhumans towards other living things. He writes:

[Compensation] does not mean anything tothe sea. It means nothing to fish or cats.The truth is that compensation does notmean anything to the dead either. So howcan we take responsibility? I think that it isby being aware of the tsumi (‘sin’) of havingpoisoned the sea, by facing the fact itself. Imyself am confronted with the question of

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responsibility.61

Ogata’s sense of responsibility as a humanb e i n g c a m e w i t h a s e n s e o f l o s s o fconnectedness with the life-world.62 Heponders:

When I considered Chisso as offender, Ithought that I had nothing to do with it. Ithought that it was just a company, withpower in the system. But when I began toperceive myself as ‘another Chisso’, Iexperienced a sense of crisis that I myselfwas moving away from the connectednessof life.63

Starving cows in Fukushima

Underlying his notion of life-world is thetradition of animism which is epitomised by theword gotagai, a word from the Minamatadialect which means; ‘we’re all in thistogether’. It is a name given to the sense ofconnectedness with all life within nature. Ogatacontinues:

[Gotagai] doesn’t mean simply that wehumans rely upon each other for ourexistence but that plants and animals arealso partners in this life. Gotagai includesthe sea, the mountains, everything. Human

beings are part of the circle of gotagai; weowe our existence to the vast web ofinterrelationships that constitute life.64

What we see here is not an image of humanscontrolling other living things from above, butsomething more humble, a vision of people asbeing on an equal basis with other life forms,constituting part of a complex and mutuallysupporting web of life. Underlying this notionof gotagai is a cultural tradition of animism andpantheism:

B e y o n d t h e p a l e o f[institutionalised] Buddhism werelocal gods like Ebisu [god of thesea and fishing] and the gods ofthe hills. These were the godsimportant to the villagers’ dailylives.65

Placing faith in life and treating it withreverence and gratitude is at the core of thisphilosophy of the ‘life-world’,66 and underlyingit is the way of life of fishing villages inMinamata:

In the lost world of Minamata fishermen] we caught lots of fish

every day, and we lived on them. We were nurtured by the fish

and the sea. We would wring a chicken’s neck a few times a

year to eat them, and once every few years we might also have

caught a mountain rabbit to eat. We lived by killing creatures.

There was a sense that we were given life by other lives. In this

way of life, I think people knew the depth of the sin of killing.67

Ogata’s ‘life-world’ is perhaps best portrayedby the image of ‘Biohistory’ which illustrates:‘the history and diversity of life which cameinto being over the course of a four billion yearperiod’ (http://www.brh.co.jp/en/).68 The imagewas created based on the idea of NakamuraKeiko, Director General of the BiohistoryResearch Hall, whom Ogata invited to the 50th

Anniversary of the Official Acknowledgement ofMinamata Disease. In her presentation

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Nakamura stated that all living beings sharethe same origin (genome), that human beingsare only one of the diverse species which sharethe same history of development over 3.8billion years (instead of being at the top of thepyramid), and that human beings are in nature(not outside it). Nakamura also stressed theimportance of regaining our sense of beingliving things (生き物としての感覚をとりもどす).69 Nakamura’s call to regain our sense asliving beings resonates with Ogata’s idea ofregaining the memory of living things.According to him:

In the age of “modernity”, we standardised,institutionalised and mechanised many thingsin the name of modernisation. In the process,we reclaimed the sea of Minamata70 that wasfull of life saying that it was polluted bymercury. But perhaps it was not just the sea weburied. We have perhaps created a system ofconcealment to continue institutional andmechanical burying. That can be summarisedas the creation of a “false memory system” (偽りの記憶装置). By doing so, we have perhapsmoved away from the essence of life, and thememory of the essence of life. I cannot help butfeel that various social problems we face todayhappened because we have lost the “memory oflife” (命の記憶).71

Ogata’s Minamata discourse thus developedinto a critique of modernity from the standpointof the life-world. It addresses the change in ourperceptions and senses, what Nakamura callsthe loss of ‘the sense of being living things’, orwhat Ogata calls the loss of our ‘memory oflife’, that has been shared for billions of yearswith other living forms. Ogata’s philosophy is acall to regain our sense of connectedness withthis vast world of life.

In order to understand his notion of life-world,however, it is necessary to discuss yet anotherlayer of connectedness, that is, connectednesswith the soul. This is the dimension of hisMinamata discourse that challenges most

deeply the current modes of perception,analysis and evaluation of social phenomena inmainstream Western social science.

3) Connectedness with the ‘Soul’ (tamashii魂)

Further pondering the meaning of theMinamata disease incident, Ogata writes:

The Minamata disease incident has left aquestion that cannot be dealt with as apolitical issue. Actually, it is the biggestand most fundamental question. In otherwords, there is a question that cannot betransformed into a question of policies orinstitutions. That is the question of thesoul.72

The question of soul is difficult to address insocial science language. It is a question thatmay belong to the realm of what Lyotard calls‘paralogy’ , the basis of a new kind ofknowledge which produces not the known butthe unknown, widening the imagination andopening it to possibilities of an ‘unknown’knowledge. Lyotard argues that the possibilityof paralogy lies in ‘little narrative(s)’, like thestory of Ogata Masato. Beck, on the other hand,points out that the ‘enrichment of the soul’through the spiritual quest for a ‘God of One’sOwn’ has been one of the strong trends inspiritual culture since the 1960s.73 Ogata’sdiscourse on the soul is thus not necessarilyalien in the context of social science. He writes:

I feel that we need to express whatsoul is more substantively and in away that is easier to understand. Ihave been thinking lately how wecan convey what soul is, and whatwe can say about the soul….Previously I stated that it isanother name for life, but in a way,I think it can also be called ‘thestamp of humanity’ (ningen noakashi 人間の証). Especially after

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the war, various things have beenmodernised and mechanised sothey can be integrated into thesystem society (システム社会).This has devoured the soul, whichis the basis for the connectednessamong people, between humansand other l iving things, andbetween humans and the sea,rivers and mountains…. I thinkthat the promise of being human isto sense life (inochi o kankaku suruいのちを感覚する) and to managelife (inochi o tsukasadoru いのちを司る). Humans exist with this duty.We will never be an existence thatc a n b e m e c h a n i s e d a n dinstitutionalised (emphasisadded). 7 4

Ogata’s critique of modernity in the deepestsense is that modernisation (includingmechanisation) has ‘devoured the soul’, thevery basis of connectedness. For him the soul isthe essence of life that enables humans to beconnected with other living things and withnature. He considers it the duty of humans touse this sense of connectedness to preserveand maintain the life-world. His notion of soulcan then be understood as something like theenergy that connects people with other livingthings and with nature, which altogetherconstitutes the whole of the life-world.

It is with this holistic notion of the relationshipbetween humans, soul, other living things aswell as inanimate nature in the life-world thatOgata and sixteen other Minamata diseasesufferers established the 'Association of theOriginal Vow' (Hongan no Kai 本願の会) in1995. The “Original Vow” for them is a spiritualconcept. The statement of the Associationbegins:

Once Minamata Bay was thetreasure chest of our sea. Here

schools of fish came to spawn. Theyoung fry matured here and thenreturned to repeat the cycle. Thebay was like a womb. In what isnow landfill between Hyakken Portand Myojin Point, the silver scalesof sardine and gizzard shadshimmered in the sunlight. Mulletleapt. Shrimp and crab frolicked inthe shallow.75

Landfill was used to cover the area wherepollution was most severe. Fish from the area,which were contaminated with high-concentration methyl-mercury, were caughtand stuffed in 2,500 oil drums and buriedunderneath the landfill as ‘polluted fish’. ForOgata, this landfill symbolizes ‘the depth ofhuman sin’.76 On the field of the reclaimed land,members of the Association have enshrinedsmall stone statues of Buddha and otherdeities, including ‘Totoro,’ as a specialMinamata deity for deceased children andother young lives lost. The statement of theAssociation continues:

On this land reclaimed from theSea of Sorrow, we vow to enshrinesmall stone images. Bowing downbefore [the stone Buddhas], we willc lasp our hands in prayer ,contemplate the sins of man, andpray for the salvation of thosesouls lost to organic mercury. It isour deepest wish that this land ofdisease and death be transformedinto a Pure Land of the spirit,where al l creatures may beconsoled. 7 7

From this position of recognising our tsumi(‘sin’) and praying to find spiritual consolation,Ogata reflects on the significance of theMinamata disease incident. He writes:

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I think that the question Minamatadisease poses to people … [is]essentially, the meaning of life. Itwas the incident which destroyed aworld where we could catch lots offish, octopus, shellfish and prawnsfrom the sea in front of us, collectbracken, tsuwabuki78 and fernsfrom the mountains behind us, andharvest vegetables from the fieldswhere insects were hoveringaround us, and birds were soaringabove.79

In the past, we were permitted tolive in this world and we had avariety of practices that helped usto feel the connection. Each one ofus was connected as a living lifewith various other lives. We lived itout…. When I was involved withthe Minamata movement , Ithought, deep in my heart, that Iwas living on my own. But whenthat sense crumbled, I realisedthat I live, and am allowed to liveby being connected to variousother living things.80 A Stone Buddha on the reclaimed land in

Minamata. Photo by S. Yoneyama

Ogata’s sense of connectedness is not onlytowards nature and the souls of the deceasedbut includes connectedness among people; allof which he calls his ‘spiritual community’:

The spiritual community is like anold-fashioned country stew, inwhich each person has a differentface, physique, character, and age.Some would be disabled. Butregardless of their characteristics,all would have valuable roles toplay. No one would be dispensable.In such a society there would be nodiscrimination. To acknowledgeeach other’s differences is to

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acknowledge our essent ia lequality. 8 1

The strength of Ogata’s notion of spirituality isthat it is not ‘other worldly’. Instead, hisconcept of spirituality is firmly rooted to thisworld, which includes not only intangible butalso observable aspects of nature and people.The spiritual community Ogata describes aboveepitomises it. It depicts a community whereeach individual is accepted and cherished fortheir very existence (存在そのものが愛される)regardless of physique, quality and ability,including disabled Minamata disease sufferers.Ogata writes elsewhere that he remembers hisfather welcoming intellectually-disabled peopleto his house, people who otherwise would havenowhere to go. He cherished (kawaigaru かわいがる) them by protecting them from beingbullied.82 Ogata’s notion of the spiritualcommunity also reminds the author thatcongenital Minamata sufferers – many inwheelchairs with severe disabilities – haveoften been called ‘treasure children’ (takarago宝子) in Minamata.83

Minamata, however, is also a place wherediscrimination against such sufferers has beenstrong and many rifts occurred in thecommunity, as discussed earlier. Ogata’s notionof a spiritual community, where other people’sdifferences are appreciated as their essentialqualities, is like his prayer. And with this‘prayer’, he uses the word ‘moyau’ [to moor] tosay, ‘moyatte kaeroo’ [Let’s us moor togetherto return].84

But where does he want to return? He writes:

Was not the crux of the Minamatastruggle a call from the spiritualworld of Minamata fishermen andvictims? It seems to me that theheart of the Minamata questionlies in their call to live together ina world where life is revered and

connected.85

Here lies the essence of Ogata’s philosophy ofthe life-world: to regain the sense of livingtogether in a spiritual world where life isrevered and connected.

The question remains, however, as to how toreconcile this notion of the life-world with thereality of highly materialistic late-modernsociety? Is such a notion compatible with theeveryday life of an advanced industrialisedsociety? Or is it possible only by pursuing ahermit-like ‘hikikomori’ life, after denouncingaspirations, comforts, and sense of progress,which are key to modern living? Asking thesequestions leads us back to the questions raisedat the beginning of this paper:

•How is the dichotomy between‘life’ (

inochi

) and economy to be faced at this point ofmodern history? Is it a matter of either-or, ultimately?

The final section of this paper addresses thisquestion in relation to Ogata’s philosophy. Italso addresses three other questions.

•Might there be some Asian principle ofenvironmental ethics that corresponds toAngela Merkel's ‘Christian tradition andEuropean culture’ of the West?

•What is the significance of Japan in thepost 3.11 era in regard to envisioning aworld beyond the ‘World Risk Society’?

•How is it possible to overcome theshortcomings of modernity, its ‘self-reflexivity’, the tendency to turn theEarth into a ‘World Risk Society’ likeoctopuses which have a reputation ofconsuming their own tentacles?

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7. The Life-world for a New Modernity

1) The Life-World and the System-Society:Dialogue

‘How [can we] break ourselves from our ownspell and liberate ourselves’ from the spell ofthe ‘system-society’ driven by the pursuit ofaffluence? -- Ogata asks. By system-society hemeans a composite of legal and institutionalsystems that support modern society.86 He doesnot suggest that we should give up living in thesystem-society in pursuit of living in the life-world. Rather, he sees the relationship betweenthe two as ‘right foot and left foot’: both areindispensable for walking. The question is howto live within this potentially contradictory dualstructure.

We need to think how to live withthe dual structure. In the global-capitalist-market economy, we arecontrolled by a view of the worlddominated by the economy and wecannot escape from it. It is a worldregulated by clock-time, and wefeel as if everything is controlledby the overwhelming power of theeconomy and politics. But preciselybecause of this, I think it isnecessary to have our own time in‘cosmic-time’, in order to relax andrefresh, and find and regain asense of our true selves. I thinkthat each person is like a smalluniverse and that it is possible foreach of us to find our own way,existentially, to connect to thecosmic-time where life is eternal. Itseems to me that living this dualityprovides a very important hint forus to rema in and regu la teourselves as humans. To put itdifferently, we work in the system-society to earn our living, and welive in the life-world to live our life.It’s like doing two-sword fencing,

or having two different, top andbottom, streams of wind, or adouble helix structure in one’slife.87

For Ogata, to recognise this duality meant tounderstand that he himself was part of the‘Chisso-ish’ society and to recognise that hewas ‘another Chisso’ as discussed earlier.Ogata emphasises, however, the importance ofknowing where each of us ‘stands’, i.e. ‘whereyou put your centre of gravity’ (重心) and'where you put your soul'.88

Sadly, I myself cannot escape fromthe money economy or theeconomic system. I use my mobilephone and my boat is equippedwith GPS, for instance. Although Icannot escape from the system, Iam still resisting stubbornly. Whatis it that I am defying? There isonly one point ultimately. It iswhere you put your ‘trust’ (どこに信を置くか shin as in shinrai 信頼). In the end, it is the question ofwhere you place your trust, thesystem-society or the life-world.89

For Ogata, the life-world presents an absolute,ethical frame of reference in which, he ashuman being, has a sense of responsibility tonature even though he is living in the system-society. In this sense, Ogata’s notion of the life-world may sound somewhat similar to whatTurner90 calls the ‘centre’ or what Birkeland91

calls the ‘north’ in their work on pilgrimage; aninner space which constitutes a separate ‘placeto be’ independent of socially constructedmorals and values. Ogata’s life-world is nodoubt his ‘place to be’ and it provides him anabsolute ethical frame of reference.

The significance of his thoughts, however, goesfar beyond his personal sphere, beyond a

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spiritual quest of his own god/centre/north,which may be interpreted as a postmodernquest for spirituality. Instead, Ogata presents aphilosophy, a foundation for environmentalethics that addresses human responsibility vis-à-vis nature at this particular point of historywhen the globalising world faces the life-threatening reality of ‘self-reflexive’ modernity.

2) Intangible Heritage: Animism

The strength of Ogata’s philosophy lies in itsdual historical backgrounds. One is the historyof contemporary Japan through which he haslived, from Minamata to Fukushima, a period ofradical modernisation which now faces anundeniable turning point. The other is thecultural tradition of Japan inherited andtransmitted for centuries: animism. Hisphilosophy is based on what UNESCO calls an‘Intangible Heritage’. It is similar to theOkinawan value of ‘Nuchi du takara, theaffirmation of the supremacy or sanctity oflife’,92 as well as the ancient Shinto93 whosepolytheistic/pantheistic world accomodates aninfinite number of kami (gods or deities) as ‘anatural force or manifestation of energy or life-force within given objects or places, and spiritsand signs of spiritual energy within theworld’.94 In this tradition, nature is spirituality,and spirituality is nature. Not at all solemn orabstract, Ogata’s spiritual world is crowdedwith many types of spirits, living and dead,human and others, including plants andinanimate entities in nature such as mountains,rivers and the sea. It is an eternal world full ofdiversity, all connected by the soul.95

Animism is not unique to Japan. Its primordial-indigenous tradition merged with Daoism fromChina that constitutes a strong culturalheritage of East Asia and beyond. Ogata’sphilosophy can be considered as a late-modernversion of this cultural heritage and thus has apotential to provide environmental ethics thatis widely relevant in Asia. If, as the GermanEthics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply

points out, environmental ethics should bedrawn from a spiritual tradition, an animisticculture might be as appropriate in the East asChristian tradition and European culture is inthe West.

In the animistic tradition of pantheism, therelationship between nature and humankind isvery different from that in (mainstream)European culture. In Ogata’s view of nature,for instance, there is not the slightest hint thathumans are above other living things. Theimage o f humankind i s humble . Theresponsibility of humans, who nonetheless havethe power to destroy nature, emanates fromwithin the ‘life-world’, rather than from theposition external to it. This notion of a life-world is very different from the discourse on‘human rights’ and ‘animal rights’, which areoften used as keywords in the discourse onenvironmental ethics.

This cultural heritage, however, has not beenpart of Japan’s intensive modernisation as seenabove. As a consequence, we see a situationwhere many people in Japan feel as if they arecompelled to make an unreasonable choicebetween 'life' and the economy. It is at thishistorical crossroad that Ogata sees a newpossibility emerging, a possibility of redressingthe conflicting relationship between the life-world and the system-society. It is through thesystematic introduction of renewable energy.

3) Renewable Energy

According to Ogata, the tension between thelife-world and the system-society is the problemof the relationship between nature andcontemporary human civilisation as a whole.96

With the triple disaster of earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meltdown in 2011, this tension came toa head, but, he remarks, there has been ‘ahistorical push’ (時代の後押し) to redress theproblem, i.e. people came to realise howimportant it is to live with a sense of safety.Today, Ogata sees a possibility of reducing thetension further by shifting towards green

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energy. He says:

I think it is possible to change theexisting paradox between economyand l i fe to make them morecompatible. If people look back 50or 100 years from now, it willprobably be clear that we havebeen going through a stage ofevolution, a type of new industrialrevolution. Previously, 'economy'meant manufacturing and industry,but it has gradually changed. Froma b o u t 2 0 y e a r s a g o , t h eenvironmental business becamepart of the economy. Eco-tourism,for instance, sells the environmentto attract tourists. And now wereach a stage where we cannotsusta in ourse lves wi thoutmaintaining a balance with nature.We cannot but realise that thetipping-point is near. This is notjust the case in relation to thenuclear crisis. It is also the casewith global warming, depletion ofthe ozone layer, water pollution,kosa (airborne sand) from China'ss p r e a d i n g d e s e r t s , a n dphotochemical smog, etc. Withthese global issues, how tomaintain a balance with nature hasbecome an economic question.Before, economy and nature wereconceived separately, but now,nature has become the first thingto consider for the economy.

Renewable energy, Ogata says, increases thecompatibility of the life-world and the system-society. He is particularly interested in thealternative energy project advanced by SonMasayoshi, who is one of the key proponents ofgreen energy in Japan.97 Ogata is particularlypositive about solar energy which, unlike wind,has no conceivable harm to humans: in his

words, there are ‘no worries about pollution’(公害の心配がない). He also sees the positiveimpact it might have towards local autonomy.

Mr. Son constructively engageshimself with renewable energy andmany heads of local governmentendorse his view. I think hisproject will eventually promotel o c a l a u t o n o m y a n d l o c a lsovereignty. The nuclear accidenthas threatened life in a broad area,not only in Fukushima. Because itis an issue directly related tosurvival, sovereignty should bewith local residents, and not withthe central government. Decisionsabout the matter of life should bem a d e b y t h e l o c a l p e o p l ethemselves.

Ogata is also interested in the internationalscope of Son’s project, which covers a vast areaof Asia from Mongolia to South East Asia. Hecontinues:

Mr. Son brings the whole of Asiainto his perspective, collaboratingwith other parts of Asia to createmutually beneficial relationships.Because issues such as a irpollution and nuclear crises havei m p a c t b e y o n d n a t i o n a lboundaries, I think their countermeasures must also be thoughtabout beyond national boundaries.In that sense, I find his ideas veryinteresting.

Ogata, however, is apprehensive about thesystem-society that is supported by alternativeenergy. He says:

In my neighbourhood, contracts

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have been signed to build twomega-solar stations. One is onreclaimed land that has been leftidle because some factories movedoverseas. The other is a pastureused as a cattle farm before.Because agriculture cannot besustained economically, ricepaddies, mountains and fields havebeen neglected and gone wild.Building solar power stationsusually means just putting solarpanels on the land that is leastvaluable. Now, it feels as if natureis being integrated into thecommodity economy (商品価値化する) in a different way. Increasingly,nature, mountains and the sea, arebeen looked at through economiclens, and it feels as if our sense ofawe of nature is weakening (畏怖の念が弱体化). Maybe it can’t behe lped , but I fear that ourreverence towards nature is fadingaway…. I am a fisherman and I seemyself as a kind of ‘thief’ who‘takes’ from nature. In a sense,fishermen and farmers are allthieves. That’s precisely why, it’simportant to treat nature withdignity and respect (仁義を通す).

He implies that the same thinking should applyt o r e n e w a b l e e n e r g y . I f g r e a t e rcommodification of nature indeed leads to adiminished sense of awe, there is perhaps morereason to treat nature more mindfully withdignity and respect. In Ogata’s philosophy, thismeans to feel connected with the life-world andto have a sense of responsibility towards it fromwithin. This suggests that no matter howcompatible the system-society becomes withthe life-world, the raison d'être of the life-worldis to provide ethical and spiritual dimensionsthat are not covered by the system-society.

In fact, the duality of the 'life-world' and‘system society’ does not mean that they simplyco-exist. During our interview, Ogatarepeatedly talked about the significance ofmaintaining dialogue (対話的関係): for oneperson to ask a question and for the other torespond. For Ogata, the ‘Chisso within’ hasbeen a significant ‘other’ with whom hemaintains a dialogue, while Chisso Corporationavoided dialogue with sufferers at all costs. ForOgata, it is such a dialogue that makes humanshuman. The life-world is like a sounding boardwith which individuals can hold innerdialogues, raise existential questions, and seekethical references to live more meaningfully ina highly industrialised, late-modern world. Atthe same time, the life-world is not just anabstract spiritual world. It is nature that existsin the tangible world, as birds, fish, grass,trees, rocks, water, wind, sunlight, etc. Theuneasiness Ogata expresses about thediminishing sense of awe to nature is acautionary note from the life-world, acomposite of spirituality and nature, towardsthe commercialisation of nature.

4) Spirituality and Nature: the Lacuna ofSocial Science

Ogata’s philosophy of the life-world is, morethan anything else, a critique of modernity. Hequestions the two most fundamental premisesof modernity. One is the dominance of money-centred social values as discussed earlier. Theother is the exclusion of matters related tospirituality. There seem to be three interrelatedlevels in the incongruity between modernityand spirituality. The first is empirical. Namely,there is a sense, to quote Ogata again, thatmodernisation and mechanisation have‘devoured the soul’ from everyday life. To put itdifferently, modernity has a capacity to ‘de-spiritualise’ cultures.98 The second is historical,that is, one of the key features of modernity hasbeen to pursue freedom from the oppressivepower of religious institutions, as epitomised bythe Nietzschean claim that ‘God is dead’. And,

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the third is epistemological, which is mostrelevant in the context of this paper.

Social science, and sociology in particular, is aproduct of modernity and has operated withsecularism as its basic assumption, puttingspiritual matters outside its boundary.Spirituality is understood to be somethingbelonging to an ‘other reality’ as against ‘thisworld’.99 Issues of animism, among otherthings, have been treated in sociology ‘with theutmost reserve, if not disdain’100 as if it is‘magic’. The elimination of ‘magic’, accordingto Max Weber, is ‘one of the most importanta s p e c t s o f t h e b r o a d e r p r o c e s s o frationalization,’101 that is to say, the key tomodernity.

On the other hand, the critique of modernityhas been presented within social science itselfas one feature of postmodernism. For Lyotard,in part icular , incredul i ty towards ametanarrative, in this case the fundamentalpremises of social science, is the very definitionof the postmodern.102 He sees in the ‘littlenarrative’ the potential to produce a new kindof knowledge which opens up our imaginationto the unknown, something which has beenoutside the epistemological boundaries ofexisting knowledge.103 The ‘little narrative’denotes the kind of knowledge that has beenoutside the legitimate sphere of (social)scientific knowledge. The ‘little narrative’ ofOgata presents this possibility of creating anew knowledge as discerned long ago byTsurumi Kazuko.1 0 4 Founded upon theintangible cultural heritage of Japan that isshared with other indigenous cultures, itdirectly addresses problems of modernity basedon his first-hand experience as a key person inthe historic Minamata movement, that is, onthe very frontline where modernity and theindigenous culture of Japan collided.

Connectedness – moyai (tying boats together)and kizuna (bonds) – emerged as a response tothe devastation in Minamata and Fukushima at

the beginning and end of radical modernisationin Japan. This is a response from the ancientcultural wisdom to the reckless aspect of supermodernity that brought Japan not onlyaffluence but crises. In the post-3.11 world, theindigenous tradition expressed in late-modernJapan may open new epistemologicalpossibil it ies in social science.

The sense of ‘connectedness that an individualfeels to everything that is other than self’ isspirituality.105 And enriching one’s soul byhaving one’s own god has been a definite trendin the modern world.106 Ogata’s philosophy isvery much in line with this trend in a worldwhich might be called ‘postmodern’. In hisphilosophy, however, this connectedness is notbased on a one-to-one relationship with one’sown particular god. Rather, it is based on astrong sense of being connected organically toa rhizome-like life-world. In that sense, itpresents a philosophy that is counter to thereality of ‘individualization’107 and ‘newindividualism’108 in the globalising late-modernworld. Precisely because of this, it is possible,paradoxically, that there will be a greater needto restore a sense of connectedness at adifferent level in everyday life.

Every philosophy and every social theory isculturally and historically specific. While theimpact of the increasing economic power ofAsia is felt all over the world, as yet no ethicalframework to support its sustainabledevelopment has been identified. Ogata’sphilosophy may provide a first step for us tostart imagining a new way of perceivingeveryday life for a different kind of modernity.And to do this may demand an epistemologicalchange in the social sciences. But perhapsthere is nothing new in that. Sociology did notexist before Durkheim established the concept,and the existence, of social phenomena ‘suigeneris’ that are independent of the actionsand intentions of individuals in society.109

Would i t be going too far to say thatrecognition of the existence 'sui generis' of the

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life-world might be the pre-condition for a newmodernity where sustainable development ispossible?

Minamata Bay in winter. Photo byS.Yoneyama

Acknowledgments: Many people contributedto the completion of this article. GavanMcCormack was the original catalyst of thisproject, introducing me to the work of OgataMasato some years ago. Okura Shonosuke, aNoh otsuzumi player, personally introduced meto Ogata Masato, and gave me the opportunityto conduct rare interviews with him. OgataMasato shared his thoughts and ideas freelywith me on two separate occasions, once inMinamata, and then through Skype fromSydney. It was the power of his spoken wordsthat enabled me to write this article. Thepresence of my friend, Kimura Hiroko, a foot-painter and poet, was indispensable for myfieldwork in Minamata. Kato Takeko, theDirector of Hot House, a facility to supportcongenital Minamata disease suffers, providedus with a wonderful space of dialogue that wasa catalyst for my fieldwork. Critical commentsfrom Mark Selden and Katalin Ferber weremost valuable. And it was with the generousediting and encouragement of Shirley Leane ofTottori University that I could complete this

piece. My deepest gratitude to all.

Shoko YONEYAMA is Senior Lecturer in AsianStudies, School of Social Sciences, Universityof Adelaide, and the author of The JapaneseHigh School: Si lence and Resistance(http://amzn.com/0415154391/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20), London & New York, Routledge, 1999(paperback edition, 2007).

Recommended citation: Shoko Yoneyama, "Life-world: Beyond Fukushima and Minamata 「いのちの世界」: フクシマとミナマタを超えて," TheAsia-Pacific Journal, Vol 10, Issue 42, No. 2,October 15, 2012.

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• Kodama Tatsuhiko, Radiation Effects onHealth: Protect the Children of Fukushima(https://apjjf.org/-Kodama-Tatsuhiko/3587)

• Say-Peace Project and Norimatsu Satoko,Protecting Children Against Radiation:Japanese Citizens Take Radiation Protectioni n t o T h e i r O w n H a n d s(https://apjjf.org/-Say_Peace-Project/3549)

·APJ Feature, Save the Children: RadiationE x p o s u r e o f F u k u s h i m a S t u d e n t s(https://apjjf .org/events/view/81)

• Ishimure Michiko, Reborn from the EarthScarred by Modernity: Minamata Disease andthe Miracle of the Human Desire to Live(https://apjjf.org/-Ishimure-Michiko/2732)

Notes

1 Beck, Ulrich (2011) 「福島、あるいは世界リスク社会における日本の未来 [Fukushima, or thefuture of Japan in the World Risk Society], inSekai, July, pp.68-73.

2 Beck, Ulrich (1999) World Risk Society, Polity,Cambridge.

3 McCormack, Gavan (1996) The Emptiness ofJapanese Affluence (first edition) New York:M.E.Sharpe, p.5.

4 All Japanese names (except the author’s) inthis paper are presented in Japanese order:family name first.

5 The term, ‘life-world, has been used inphilosophy and sociology to refer to thesubjective and conscious dimension ofeverydayl i fe (Husserl) including thephenomenological aspects (Merleau-Ponty),which is sometimes posited vis-à-vis the‘system-world’ (Habermas). Ogata’s discoursecan be called phenomenological and he alsotalks about the dichotomy of the ‘life-world’ andthe ‘system society’ (システム社会). With thesesimilarities, it will be interesting to examineOgata’s philosophy in relation to the westernphilosophical tradition. This, however, is wellbeyond the scope of this paper, and will have tobe left to a later date.

6 TEPCO (2012) Press Release 24.05.2012 「東北地方太平洋沖地震の影響による福島第一原子力発電所の事故に伴う大気および海洋への放射性物質の放出量の推定について（平成24年5月現在における評価」( h e r e(http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2012/1204619_ 1 8 3 4 . h t m l )(http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2012/1204619_1834.html) (accessed 29.05.2012)

7 Obe, Mitusuru (2012) ‘Tepco’s Estimate OfRadiation Rises’, Wall Street Journal Asia,25.05.2012, p.5.

8 NHK News Web (24.05.2012) 「東電90京ベクレル放出を発表」 h e r e(http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20120524/k10015356111000.html) (accessed 29.05.2012).

9 Stohl, A., Seibert, P., Wotawa, G., Arnold, D.,Burkhart, J.F., Eckhardt, S., Tapia, C., Vargas,A., and Yasunari, T.J. (2012) ‘Xenon-133 andcaesium-137 releases into the atmosphere fromthe Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant:determination of the source term, atmosphericdispersion, and deposition’, AtmosphericChemistry and Physics, 12, pp.2313-2343.

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10 Brumfiel, G. (2011) ‘Fallout forensics hikeradiation toll’, Nature, 478, pp.435-436. here(http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111025/full/478435a.html) (accessed 29.05.2012).

11 Koide, Hiroaki, Selden, Kyoko. (trans.) (2012)‘Japan’s Nightmare Fight Against Radiation inthe Wake of the 3.11 Meltdown’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 1 April 2012. here(https://apjjf.org/events/view/136?utm_source=April+2%2C+2012&utm_campaign=China%27s+Connectivity+Revolution&utm_medium=archive)

12 Burnie, Shaun, Matsumura Akio and MurataMitsuhei (2012) ‘The Highest Risk: Problems ofRadiation at Reactor Unit 4, FukushimaDaiichi’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus,V o l 1 0 , I s s u e 1 7 , N o . 4 . h e r e(http://www.japanfocus.org/-Murata-Mitsuhei/3742) (accessed 29.05.2012).

13 Kumano, Yumiko (Nuclear Fuel CycleDepartment, TEPCO) (2010) ‘IntegrityInspection of Dry Storage Casks and SpentFuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear PowerStation’, PowerPoint presentation, slide 4,presented at the Third International Seminaron Spent Fuel Storage (ISSF) 第3回中間貯蔵使用済燃料国際セミナー, at Central ResearchInstitute of Electric Power Industry 電力中央研究所 , 1 5 - 1 7 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 . h e r e(http://www.denken.or.jp/result/event/seminar/2010/issf/result.html) (accessed 19.05.2012).

14 Kondo, Shunsuke (25.03.2011) 「福島第一原子力発電所の不測事態シナリオの素描」 here(http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~pn8r-fjsk/saiakusinario.pdf) (accessed 31.05.2012). The reportwas originally suppressed by the CabinetOffice.

15 TEPCO (26.04.2012) 「4号機原子炉建屋は傾いておらず、燃料プールを含め地震で壊れることはありません」 h e r e(http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/info/index-j.html) (accessed 31.05.2012)

16 Asahi shimbun (26.05.2012) 「廃炉作業阻むがれき　福島4号機・建屋内部を初公開」 here(http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/index9-j.html) (accessed 3.06.2012)

17 Gundersen, Arnie and Gundersen, Maggie(12.05.2012) ‘Fukushima Daiichi: The Truthand the Future’, video presentation, FairewindsE n e r g y E d u c a t i o n , h e r e(http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-daiichi-truth-and-future)

(accessed 3.06.2012).

18 Tasaka, Hiroshi (2012) Kantei Kara MitaGenpatsu Jiko No Shinjitu: korekara hajimasushin no kiki [The Truth About the NuclearAccident as Viewed From the Prime Minister'sOffice: The real crisis is expected in future],Kobundo shinsho, pp.20-23. Emphasis added.

19 Fairewinds Energy Education (2012) ‘Lessonsf r o m F u k u s h i m a ’ , h e r e(http://www.fairewinds.com/content/lessons-Fukushima), p.7.

20 Fairewinds Energy Education (2012) ‘Lessonsf r o m F u k u s h i m a ’ , h e r e(http://www.fairewinds.com/content/lessons-Fukushima), p.5.

21 “Tepco finally admits crisis was avoidable,”Japan Times, October 12, 2012 here(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121013x1.html). To be sure, the admission was made ina bid to gain permission to restart its closedplants.

22 Giddens, Anthony 1991 Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late ModernAge, Stanford University Press.

23 Beck (1999) World Risk Society.

24 Bauman, Zygmunt 2000, Liquid Modernity,Cambridge and Malden, Polity Press.

25 Beck, U. (trans. Ito, Midori) (2011) 「個人化の

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多様性 [Diversification of individualisation] inBeck, U., Suzuki, M. and Ito, M. (eds.) 『リスク化する日本社会』岩波書店 p.21.

26 Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.9.

27 Ethics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply,2011, ‘Germany’s Energy Transition – Acollective project for the future’. FederalMinistry for the Environment, NatureConservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany,h e r e(http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/_Anlagen/2011/05/2011-05-30-abschlussbericht-ethikkommission_en.pdf;jsessionid=970A33E05FF76649B90D8C0873985BAD.s3t1?__blob=publicationFile).

28 The blue line indicates the inflation rate,which was included in the original chartproduced by the Ministry of Finance but notrelevant in this context.

29 Yoshioka, H (2005) 'Forming a NuclearRegime and Introducing Commercial Reactors',in S Nakayama (ed.), A Social History ofScience and Technology in ContemporaryJapan, Trans Pacific Press, Melbourne,pp.80-103.

30 Guy, Robert (15.02.2012) ‘It’s official, Chinais No.2’, The Australian Financial Review.

31 Asahi shinbun, 31 August 2012「水俣病救済策、６万６千人申請、想定２倍、潜在被害多く」h e r e(http://digital.asahi.com/20120831/pages/?ref=com_r_cal).

32環境省総合環境政策局環境保健部特殊疾病対策室 2010 「公害健康被害の補償等に関する法律の被認定者数（水俣病申請処理状況）平成22年3月末現在」 h e r e(http://www.env.go.jp/doc/toukei/data/10ex816.xls).

33 George, Timothy (2012) ‘Fukushima in Lightof Minamata’, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan

Focus, Vol 10, Issue, 11, No. 5, 12 March;George, T. (2001) Minamata: Pollution and theStruggle for Democracy in Postwar Japan,Harvard University Asia Centre, pp.264-5;Harada, M. & Ishimure, M. (2012)

「水俣病、終わらんよ　原田正純さん・石牟礼道子さん対談」朝日新聞2012年6月13日

34 Takaoka, S. (2011) 「水俣から福島への教訓」『診療研究』470号 August issue.

35 Reconstruction Agency 復興庁 15 August2 0 1 2 「復興の現状と取組」 p . 3 7 , h e r e(http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/topics/120815fukkounogenjou.pdf).

36 Harada, Masazumi (08. 09. 2011) 「原田正純医師に聞く 天災ではなく、人災」東京新聞Tokyo Shimbun.

37 George (2012) Japan Focus; Smith, Aileen(2012) ‘Anti-nuclear activist sees commonalitiesbetween Minamata and Fukushima’, TheMainichi Daily News, 4 March; See also, Smith,Aileen Mioko (2012) ‘Post-Fukushima realitiesand Japan’s energy Future’ (an interview), TheAsia-Pacific Journal, 10 (33) no.2, August 13.

3 8 栗原彬 (2000) 『証言水俣病』岩波新書pp.10-11.

39 The kanji was chosen in the annual poll forthe kanji character conducted by Japan's KanjiAptitude Testing Foundation. BBC News Asia,‘Japanese public choose “kizuna” as kanji of2 0 1 1(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16321999)’, 24 December 2011.

40 Respondents were over 20 years of age andwere randomly selected from 350 alsorandomly-selected cities, towns and villages inJapan. Cabinet Office of Japan 内閣府 (2 April2012) 社会意識に関する世論調査 here(http://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h23/h23-shakai/2-2.html). (accessed 28.06.2012).

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41 George (2002) p.178. Tsurumi, Y 2007‘Minamata’s moyainaoshi movement andsustainable development: Recovery fromdivision’, The ESD Study Group for the Asia-Pacific Region, Education for SustainableDevelopment, Tokyo. Available at here(http://www.nier.go.jp/hidekim/ESD/Minamata.pdf) (viewed 28 June 2012).

42 Interview with Ogata Masato, 16 January2012.

43 George (2001) Minamata, p.284.

44 Tsurumi, Kazuko 鶴見和子(1998)『鶴見和子曼荼羅VI　魂の巻　水俣・アニミズム・エコロジー』[Tsurumi Kazuko Collection Mandara VIMinamata: An Approach to Animism andEcology], Fujiwara Shoten, Tokyo, p.39.

45 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.173.

4 6 Beck , U l r i ch (2011) ‘Pos t sc r ip t :Individualizing Japan and Beyond: Comment onComments’, in Beck, Ulrich., Suzuki Munenori,Ito Midori (eds.) Risukuka suru nihonshakai:Ulrich Beck tono taiwa 『リスク化する日本社会』Iwanami Shoten, p.252.

47Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.3.

48 Beck (1999) World Risk Society, p.3.

49 Interview conducted with Masato Ogata, 15January 2012, Minamata.

50 Oiwa and Ogata, p.98.

51 Interview.

52 Ogata 2001, p.49, my translation. Allquotations from this volume have beentranslated from Japanese to English by theauthor.

53 Ogata’s terminology, ‘seimei sekai’ (生命世界)or ‘inochi no sekai’ (いのちの世界), becomes‘life-world’ when translated into English, which

happens to be the same phrase as used byHabermas. Both are the same in that ‘lifeworld’ is conceived as an antithesis of the‘system world/society’. While the ‘life world’ ofHabermas refers to everyday life of humans,however, Ogata’s notion of ‘life world’ covers amuch wider spectrum including the biological,ecological and spiritual world of all beingsliving and dead.

54 Interview.

55 Oiwa and 2001, p.99.

56 Ogata 2001, p.66

57 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.164.

58 Except the work of some Minamata residents:Ogata Masato, Ishimure Michiko and SugimotoEiko.

59 Yomiuri Shimbun, 19 April 2011.

60 Moller, A., Hagiwara, A., Matsui, S. andothers (2012) ‘Abundance of birds inFukushima as Judged from Chernobyl’,Environmental Pollution, 164, p.36.

61 Ogata 2001, p.68.

62 Ogata 2001, pp. 64-5.

63 Ogata 2001, p.66.

64 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.164.

65 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.171.

66 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.164.

67 Ogata 2001, p.62.

68 See the homepage of Biohistory ResearchInstitute for the image of ‘Biohistory’ at here(http://www.brh.co.jp/en/).

69 Nakamura, Keiko (2007) ‘Seimei kagaku:Ikimono kanaku de kangaeru’ 「生命科学：生き

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物感覚で考える」 [Bioscience: To think about itwith senses of a living creature], in 水俣病公式確認50年事業実行委員会『創世紀を迎えた水俣：未来への提言』 [Minamata which Entered a NewPeriod for Life and Creativity] (souseiki omukaeta Minamata)

70 This was done as a solution to the pollutioncaused by the organic mercury.

71 Ogata 2001, p.63.

72 Ogata 2001, p.67.

73 Beck, Ulrich (2008) A God of one’s own,Cambridge, Polity, p.27.

74 Ogata 2001, pp.192-3, emphasis added.

75 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.

76 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.

77 Oiwa & Ogata 2001, p.122.

78 Farfugium japonicum. Its leaves look likeshiny fuki, but it is not fuki and it has smallyellow flowers in autumn. It is evergreen andoften seen in Japanese gardens, next to stones.

79 Ogata 2001, p.74

80 Ogata 2001, p.75

81 Ogata and Oiwa 2001, p.172.

82 Ogata 2001, p.10.

83 Ogata and Oiwa 2001, p.162. A strongcounter-example to this would be the case ofthe 14-year-old ‘school killer’ in Kobe in 1998who murdered a small child and displayed hisdecapitated head at the gate of his school, inorder to demonstrate to society how his‘existence has been erased’ (存在が消された) bythe ‘school society, an incident that has had aprolonged empathic impact among Japaneseyouth ever since. Yoneyama, Shoko (1999) TheJapanese High School: Silence and Resistance,

London, Routledge, pp.1-17.

84 Oiwa and Ogata 2001, p.173.

85 Ogata 2001, p.63.

86 Ogata 2001, p.48.

87 Interview with Ogata Masato, 25 August2012.

88 Ditto.

89 Interview with Ogata Masato, 16 January2012.

90 Turner, Victor (1973) ‘The Centre Out There:The Pilgrim’s Goal’, History of Religion, 12 (3):191-230.

91 Birkeland, Inger (2005) Making Place,Making Self: Travel, Subjectivity, and SexualDifference, London: Ashgate Publishing.

92 McCormack, Gavan (2009) ‘Okinawa’sTurbulent 400 Years’, The Asia-Pacific Journal,Vol.3-3-09, 12 January 2012.

93 This is a far cry from state-shintoism whichhas been in place since the Meiji period.

94 Reader, Ian (2001) Shinto, Simple Guides,London, pp.40-41. See also, Kagawa-Fox,Midori (2010) ‘Environmental Ethics from theJapanese Perspective’, Ethics, Place andEnvironment, 13 (1): 57-73.

95 This image of this spiritual world has beenadopted in many ways, including anime films byMiyazaki Hayao, most notably in ‘SpiritedAway’ (2001) and ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by theSea’ (2008). A strong feature of Miyazaki filmsis the presence of numerous spirits and (mostlylovable) monstrous beings that live in theunseen world, especially in nature. There areother famous Japanese manga and anime filmssuch as ‘GeGeGe-no-Kitaro’ by Mizuki Shigeru,and more recently, ‘A Letter to Momo’ (2011)

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by Okiura Hiroyuki, where beings from theinvisible world play central roles. The animistictradition is perhaps best expressed in ‘Tales ofTono’ (1912), a presentation of fork legends byYanagita Kunio in literature, as well as bywoodblock print artists such as MunakataShiko and Naka Bokunen in art.

96All quotations in this section, unless otherwiseindicated, are from an Interview with Ogata, 25August 2012.

97 Son Masayoshi and Andrew DeWit (2011)‘Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: TheEnergy Future’, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 9,Issue 38 No 2, September 19.

98 Flanagan, Kieran (2007) ‘Introduction’, inFlanagan, K. and Jupp, P., A Sociology ofSpirituality, Ashgate, Farnham, p.1.

99 Berger, Peter, L. (1969) A Rumor of Angels:Modern Society and the Rediscovery of theSupernatural, Doubleday & Company, NewYork, p.2.

100 Flanagan 2007, p.1.

101 Persons, Talcott (1930/1974) ‘Translator’snote’, Chapter IV, Endnote 19, in Weber, Max(1930/1974) Persons, T. (trans) The ProtestantEthic and the Spirit of Capitalism, UnwinUniversity Books. Parsons 1930/1974, p.222.

102 Lyotard, J.F. (1979) The Postmodern

Condition, University of Minnesota Press,Minneapolis.yotard 1979, p. xxxiv.

103 Lyotard 1979, pp.60-67.

104 Tsurumi, Kazuko 鶴見和子(1998)『鶴見和子曼荼羅VI　魂の巻　水俣・アニミズム・エコロジー』 [Tsurumi Kazuko Collection Mandara VIMinamata: An Approach to Animism andEcology], Fujiwara Shoten, Tokyo, p.39.

105 De Souza, M, Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., and Scott, D. (2009) ‘GeneralIntroduction’ , in De Souz et al (eds.)International Handbook of Education forSpirituality, Care and Wellbeing, Volume 1,Springer, p.1.

106 Beck, Ulrich (2008) A God of one’s own,Cambridge, Polity, p.27.

107 Beck, U., Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2001)Individualization, London, Sage.

108 Elliott, A., Katagiri, M. and Sawai, A. (2012)‘The New Individualism in ContemporaryJapan: Theoretical Avenues and the JapaneseNew Individualist Path’, Journal for the Theoryof Social Behaviour, Online: 30 May 2012.

1 0 9 Durkheim, E. (1895) The Rules ofSociological Method. See Jones, Robert, EmileDurkheim: An Introduction to Four MajorWorks. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications,Inc., 1986. pp. 60-81.