Sounding Against Nuclear Power in Post-3.11 Japan: Resonances of Silence and Chindon-ya

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the tension between the socially mandated silence of jishuku and the sounds of anti-nuclear power street protests to investigate how chindon-ya, an ostentatious musical advertisement practice on the street, has become politicized as a sonic emblem of the recent anti-nuclear movement in post-3.11 disaster Japan. By listening to both the sound of chindon-ya at demonstrations and the weighty silence of jishuku together, I suggest that chindon-ya sounds are foregrounding new political possibilities, enabling a broader-based movement toward, and beyond, what anthropologist Marc Abélès calls "the politics of survival" in contemporary Japan.

Sounds of Democracy: Performance, Protest, and Political Subjectivity

“…This question is inspired by a proliferation of critical studies that explore the affective, sensory, and embodied dimensions of political subjectivity (e.g., Athanasiou , ; Stoler ; Manoukian ; Mazzarella , ; Butler ; Cody ). My analysis here contributes to a growing literature on the role of sound and silence in protests and affective publics (e.g., Sterne and Davis ; Gray ; Manabe ; Novak ; Tausig ; Abe ; Sonevytsky ), and I take up Stefan Helmreich's point that “telling signal from noise is no simple matter” (Garcia Molína and Cossette ). Here I consider four sonic motifs: performed silence, broadcasts of recorded crying, honking, and banging on plates .…”

“…When performed by a large group in public, silence often emphasizes death and respectful mourning (Schwartz , 617). Marié Abe (, 247) convinc‐ingly shows that, in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake in Japan, silence was not a sonic performance of oppression or the alter ego of voicing, but became a “performance of national mourning and social embeddedness.” This connection was made literal in Ashmina's happening as performers fell to the ground to feign death while their partners traced their bodies in chalk, mimicking global police imagery of death at the scene of a crime.…”

“…As David Novak (, 130) notes, noise is an accusation by those in dominant positions against seemingly unruly marginal groups. “‘Bringing the noise’ is not accidental,” writes Novak (, 131), “but an expressive practice and a deliberate act of subversion.” Such is the case with Japanese musical groups performing in antinuclear protests that seek to break apart and challenge state‐sanctioned silence and nuclear policy (Novak ; Manabe ; Abe ) . Such was also the case among the Quebec manifs casseroles in 2012, which brought together a wide range of people from different classes, languages, races, and genders to participate in the infectious banging of pots and pans to protest a law that banned large gatherings (Sterne and Davis ).…”

COVID-19 y Japón bajo jishuku

“…Frecuentemente traducido como self-restraint (autocontrol), jishuku es un acto de abstenerse de cualquier actividad no necesaria o considerada egoísta 48 y es más bien un movimiento que muestra la armonía cultural Duus, "Dealing with Disaster", 180-181. del sacrificio individual y la solidaridad con las víctimas que un luto. 49 Su emergencia se encuentra durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, cuando el régimen militar demandaba responsabilidad individual para el bien de la nación; más tarde se mantuvo como una costumbre social mediante la ideología imperialista y la conformidad social 50 .…”

Project Fukushima! Performativity and the Politics of Festival in Post-3/11 Japan

“…In addition to the sheer numbers of participants, antinuclear actions developed creative performative tactics to organize street protests, including "sound demos," which had initially developed as a "reclaim-the-streets" tactic for gay and lesbian rights activists in the late 1990s, and rose to further prominence in antiwar and anti-globalization actions in the 2000s (Hayashi and McKnight 2005, Manabe 2015, Abe 2016. In sound demos like the August 2012 Natsu Datsu Genpatsu protests in Osaka, small trucks equipped with PA equipment blasted techno music, as marchers danced and chanted antinuclear slogans.…”