Japan in many ways is the land of myth, of cozy self-assurances, national delusions and unfounded assertions. Incredulous claims, such as racial homogeneity and the absence of a class system, are commonplace. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, the head of Rakuten declared that there was no crime in Japan. The myth of nuclear safety was one of the most insulting because of its transparent falsity.
The poems in this anthology dismantle the claim that nuclear power is a safe, cheap, and infinite. The book begins with a quote from a speech given at Hertford College Chapel, University of Oxford, last year, by the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto: "Adorno said, 'Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.' I would like to revise it and say, 'Keeping silent after Fukushima is barbaric.' "
Sakamoto's message was clear: "People and nukes cannot coexist, whether it be for weapons or electricity."