[site fights] Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West

Moved from Great Tohoku Revival, 2011-7-3

Shortly after the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami precipitated the nuclear crisis unfolding in Fukushima, Daniel Aldrich was quoted in The New York Times. Immediately after reading that article, I ordered Prof. Aldrich's book Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West. With even a casual glance through this book, it is clear that it is must reading for anyone planning to participate in Tohoku's revival.

Tohoku's Nuclear Villages: Small, Unsophisticated and Rich

In his very timely book Site Fights, Daniel Aldrich describes at length the subsidies, both exposed and hidden, that are used to persuade and reward villages that host nuclear plants. Martin Fackler reports that in 2009 alone, Tokyo gave $1.15 billion for public works projects to communities that have electric plants.


Using data from the 2005 census and 2007 data for fiscal strength (http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/eStatTopPortal.do), I plotted fiscal strength versus population for 271 municipalities in Tohoku, excluding Akita and Yamagata Prefectures, but adding Ibaraki and Chiba Prefectures.