Reverberations from Fukushima

50 Japanese Poets Speak Out

Reverberations from Fukushima: 50 Japanese Poets Speak Out is a timely collection of poems, commentary, and essays about the first nuclear disaster of the 21st Century. These powerful poems by 50 Japanese poets address the accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant on March 11, 2011. The poems plead for restoration of the balance between humans and the environment, provide eloquent testimony to the consequences of breaking with tradition and the cycle of life, present prophetic visions of a nuclear future that has sadly come to pass, lament the loss of home and livelihood, portray the exploited and the exploiters of human life bound together in a hellish cycle of destruction, unveil the lies fed to the Japanese public, and decry how the nation was "brainwashed" into accepting nuclear power.This anthology includes a preface by editor Leah Stenson and commentary by her co-editor, Asao Sarukawa Aroldi, as well as commentary by Hisao Suzuki and Jotaro Wakamatsu, both editors and contributors to the full-length work on which this abridged anthology is based-Farewell to Nuclear, Welcome to Renewable Energy: A Collection of Poems by 218 Poets (Tokyo: Coal Sack Publishing Company, 2012).Reverberations from Fukushima also features essays by David Krieger, poet and founder of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and by Francesca Giovannini, nuclear policy expert and affiliate to the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University, and to the Managing the Atom (MTA) project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University.This anthology will help readers gain a deeper understanding of the Fukushima nuclear disaster from a humanistic rather than technological or political perspective, while at the same time, enhancing their appreciation of contemporary Japanese poetry.