Human Security and Japan's Triple Disaster

This book applies the concept of human security to the specific case of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that struck Japan on 11 March 2011, which has come to be known as Japan's 'triple disaster'. This left more than 15,000 people dead, displaced more than 300,000, and was the most expensive natural disaster in recorded history. This volume illustrates the different forms of human insecurity that appeared and were exacerbated, as well as more encouraging signs of human empowerment and reform that have also occurred.

Japan has been one of the most important international sponsors of human security, yet it has been almost completely absent from the domestic political agenda. This book demonstrates how human security is relevant not only for Japan's foreign policy, but also domestically. The book develops the human security approach not only through extending it to natural disasters, but also by demonstrating how it can be developed by adopting an interdisciplinary perspective. It demonstrates the value of drawing on a wide range of voices, incorporating scholars and perspectives from disciplines such as: disaster studies, gender studies, international political economy, international relations, Japanese studies, psychiatry, and sociology. The chapters in this collection each add to the contemporary literature, by examining the vulnerability of Japanese social groups and communities in the event of disaster, and how they collectively seek to empower themselves to prevent, respond to and recover from disasters.

In considering this fascinating Japanese case study in detail, the book shows researchers, postgraduate students, policy makers and practitioners how the concept of human security can be practically applied at a policy level to the domestic affairs of developed countries, as well as those of less-developed countries.