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Making Mothers Responsible After Fukushima in Japanese Media

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  • Yasuhito Abe

    (Department of Media, Journalism and Communications, Doshisha University, Japan)

Abstract

This study examines how mother–child evacuation following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has been discursively constructed in Japanese mainstream newspapers over the first decade after the accident. Drawing on theories of risk society, mediapolis, and proper distance, and employing a longitudinal critical discourse analysis of five major national newspapers published between 2011 and 2021, this article demonstrates that Japanese newspapers consistently portrayed mother–child evacuation as a social wrong, while simultaneously individualizing moral responsibility by foregrounding mothers as primary caregivers. Fathers, children, and institutional actors, including the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO), were largely marginalized as morally responsible subjects. This gendered framing stabilized a particular moral order in which women’s precautionary decisions were moralized, while structural and institutional responsibility was backgrounded. By foregrounding gender as a structuring principle of mediated moral relations, this study advances Silverstone’s concepts of mediapolis and proper distance and contributes to debates on media, morality, and risk governance in post-disaster societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Yasuhito Abe, 2026. "Making Mothers Responsible After Fukushima in Japanese Media," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 14.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:12072
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.12072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Morioka, Rika, 2014. "Gender difference in the health risk perception of radiation from Fukushima in Japan: The role of hegemonic masculinity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 105-112.
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