Disaster is viewed as mass destruction and profound loss in a general visualization, but historically, different people have had different experiences in disaster. In most cases, it is the socially weak who suffer more severely or are exploited during rebuilding efforts, such as the devastation of historic Black neighborhoods on low land in Katrina and the displacement of the working poor after the razing of public housing in its aftermath (Walker, 2010, p.94-97). The 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Crisis is no exception. As strong anti-nuclear sentiments spread in the society, the 1979 exposé written by freelance writer Horie Kunio and illustrated by the renowned horror manga artist Mizuki Shigeru was republished into a book called Fukushima genpatsu no yami: genpatsu shitauke rōdōsha no genjitsu [The Darkness of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant: The reality of nuclear subcontract workers]. Combining graphic details of Horie's experiences working undercover in the Fukushima nuclear power plant and visceral illustrations by Mizuki, the book exposes the dark secret of the nuclear industry - that for over 30 years, it has been sustained through sacrifices by the socially weak.

In the book, Horie gives appalling revelations inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant chapter by chapter, but the most dismaying example of the exploitation of the subcontract workers appears in the last few passages of the book. After he suffers a serious injury but is stopped from filing a report, Horie starts an investigation on the concealment of casualties at nuclear plants. Distraught by answers confirming the fact, he recalls an image from his memory: "Tower... a tower... I think I saw in Fukushima... the tower I would always see while on the bus heading to the plant... yes, the one tower standing proudly inside TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It was carved with the words 'No Disaster - 1,500,000 Hours Achievement Memorial." (2011, p.80).

The "No Disaster" tower is the symbol of socioeconomic exploitation of the nuclear subcontract workers and outright denial of their sacrifices that Horie had uncovered throughout the book. These subcontract workers are mostly comprised of poor local farmers and day laborers - all belonging to the lowest social class living on the economic margin with no choice but to work in nuclear power plants for decent pay (Horie, 2011, p.15). With no prior knowledge or adequate education on potential dangers and safety measures, they are sent inside with barely useful protective gear and often malfunctioning dosimeters for daily maintenance and repair, the dirtiest and most dangerous tasks in a nuclear power plant. Horie's succinct and raw descriptions of his firsthand experience battling with intense excruciation, fatigue, and fear coupled with Mizuki's visceral illustrations of the nuclear plant as a living monster extending its pipe tentacles and the faces of the workers distorted in terror plant the image of a truly horrifying place not of this world. Indeed, in the outside world, not many know of the people were exposed to deadly dosages of radiation because of machinery malfunction, people who were soaked in radioactive sewage from a bubble burst accident, people who suffered severe injuries, or people who were crushed by this environment and ended their own lives (Horie, 2011, p. 81). These horrors are concealed under the words "No Disaster" that trample on the sacrifices and exploitation of the lowly subcontract workers, who are powerless in front of the energy oligopoly and its powerful supporters.

Optimistically advanced as the solution to the energy crisis, nuclear energy has forcibly upheld its safe, clean, and reliable image through burying the truth of exploitation under the words of "No Disaster" and other proud advertisements. 32 years later when the "No Disaster" myth was shattered in one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, the exploitation is still continuing. Various reports have emerged criticizing the dangerous working conditions of the subcontract workers, who are sent inside the failed nuclear power plant for the most dangerous operations without proper safety equipment, and the problematic management of Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is treating these workers like disposable tools that can be used conveniently and discarded after reaching the radiation dosage limit (Horie, 2011, p.92). As Mizuki, a WWII veteran, had remarked, the workers are like soldiers on the battlefield, used as pawns by the elite and ordered into suicidal charges toward the raging nuclear monster to die honorably for the country (Horie, 2011, p.94). Sustaining the nuclear industry through exploitive sacrifices buried under "No Disaster," now the exploited workers are repaying the debts from the tremendous gamble against nature that the mighty TEPCO and its powerful supporters had lost.

The "No Disaster" tower is the symbol of "the Darkness of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant" exposed in the book. Horie writes, "when the nuclear subcontract workers, who are disposed into one darkness after another unknown to the public, are viewed as the shadow beneath the words 'No Disaster,' I can only think of this tower as the gravestone for these workers whose voices were suppressed, bodies were harmed, and lives were sometimes taken away" (2011, p.81). Similarly, on a wider scale, the unjust situation of Fukushima residents suffering the most from the failure of the nuclear power plant generating energy for Tokyo had resulted from exploitive choice of TEPCO to build the plant in a poor region that could be easily controlled through economic compensation (Kingston, 2011, p.6). In the present debate about nuclear energy and the continuing efforts in recovery and rebuilding, the "No Disaster" tower and what it represents as shown in the book are grim reminders to the underlying socioeconomic conflict between winners and losers in disaster that should not be neglected.

Works Cited