Consumer Reaction, Food Production and the Fukushima Disaster

Assessing Reputation Damage Due to Potential Radiation Contamination

This book examines the factors involved in consumer responses to food produced in regions near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant following the March 2011 Eastern Japanese earthquake, and assesses how responses to reports on food safety and risk of radiation contamination shaped consumer perceptions of and subsequent behavior toward products from the Fukushima prefecture. On the basis of a survey conducted in 2014 among 8,000 consumers from all parts of Japan and focusing on ten food products (rice, cucumbers, apples, shiitake mushrooms, beef, pork, eggs, tuna fish, wakame seaweed, and mineral water) it investigates consumer choices specifically based on rumor (“fuyou”) and not fact as well as how “fuyou” damage shaped such choices. It then goes on to analyze the differences between these customer choices.