2022 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 74-92
In this study, the author performed a chronological analysis of the content of reports from two leading newspapers in Japan regarding reputational damage related to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Newspaper databases were searched for Japanese words related to reputational damage, including 風評被害 (reputational damage), 震災風評 (earthquake reputation), and 原発風評 (nuclear power plant reputation). The study author read all of the material extracted by the search, which included 1478 articles from the national and regional editions of the Asahi Shimbun and 1472 articles from the national and regional editions of Yomiuri Shimbun published from March 11, 2011 to December 31, 2020. In total, 2950 articles were analyzed. Debris disposal was the most frequently reported reputational damage topic related to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster; this content topic was followed by compensation, beef, and rice, in order of frequency. The content topics ranking fifth through tenth in frequency were vegetables, special local products of Fukushima and other Prefectures in Tohoku, peaches, hotels and inns, fish and shellfish, and decreased tourism. Examining this breakdown by category, agriculture (21.3%) and tourism (21.2%) were by far the largest categories, accounting for 42.5% of the relevant articles about reputational damage related to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
