Behind the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in January 2021 was the international movement focusing on the humanitarian consequences caused by nuclear weapons. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the governments of like-minded countries, such as Austria, led this movement, supported by NGOs from around the world as well as Hibakusha, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Such civil society actors played major roles. Firstly, they promoted the recognition of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons around the world. In addition to the testimonies of the devastation and suffering of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the consequences of nuclear testing and nuclear power plant accidents were presented for international discussion.

Secondly, NGOs contributed to the drafting of the treaty. A Model Nuclear Weapons Convention was developed at an early stage. Then the focus was shifted to the norm-building effect that the Land Mine and Cluster Munition ban treaties have had, helping to shape the TPNW, adopted in 2017.

Thirdly, advocacy efforts by NGOs both locally and at relevant international conferences led to the successful adoption and entry into force of the TPNW.

Looking ahead, Japanese civil society can play further constructive roles by (1) contributing to the first Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the TPNW to be held in March 2022, particularly in the areas of victim assistance and environmental remediation by sharing Japan's experiences following the atomic bombings, (2) engaging in discussion on nuclear disarmament verification, including at the MSP, and (3) presenting the legal and political points required for Japan's signature and ratification to the TPNW for public debates.

This article aims to examine the relationship between the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

There have been serious disagreements over the relationship between the NPT and the TPNW in our international society. This has engendered a serious political divide between the non-nuclear weapon states, which support the TPNW, and the nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states under the nuclear umbrella, which oppose the treaty.

If we only examine the surface of this political division, we tend to overlook the history and logic of the NPT. Consequently, the relationship between the NPT and the TPNW may be misunderstood, and the political fragmentation may worsen. This article, therefore, will examine the relationship between the NPT and the TPNW from the perspective of the inequality under the NPT, which is the most important feature of the treaty.

First, we examine the purpose and nature of inequality of the NPT. Second, we attempt to extract the logic of the inequality of the NPT, using order/anarchy and equality/inequality as keywords. Third, this article confirms the objectives of the TPNW and its characteristics. Fourth, again using the above keywords, we demonstrate the logic of the inequality of the NPT and the TPNW, and identify the relationship between the NPT and the TPNW. Finally, we examine ways to resolve the political divide over the TPNW.

The March 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident gravely contaminated the environment over a vast region, and also caused severe socioeconomic damage. Because of the nuclear accident, nine towns and villages transferred their municipal-office functions to other municipalities, and socioeconomic functions were paralyzed over a broad spectrum.

This paper conceives the Fukushima nuclear accident as a case study in environmental justice (EJ), comparing it to Minamata, Yokkaichi, and other major pollution problems of postwar Japan, and reveals how the plant’s siting and accident were causes of injustice. In particular, this paper focuses on injustices such as the unequal distribution of nuclear-accident risk, the nuclear accident’s destruction of people’s livelihoods, and the geographical disparity in compensation and assistance measures.

The environmental contamination and extensive evacuations induced by the nuclear accident wrecked the way of life in localities of the disaster-stricken region. Bonds between people and the relationship between people and nature were broken, and people were dispossessed of the conditions that had undergirded their lives and livelihoods (the conditions for production and everyday life) in the evacuated areas. This kind of damage is theorized in sociology and economics as “loss/deprivation of hometown”. However, compensation paid by TEPCO does not include loss/deprivation of hometown among types of damage eligible for solatia.

As an objection to the injustices, nuclear accident victims have filed collective lawsuits in a number of venues since December 2012. In addition to pursuing the accountability of the government and TEPCO, the plaintiffs seek the payment of damages and environmental restoration. Lawsuit movements in the four major pollution incidents and other pollution incidents of postwar Japan have induced policy formation by the government and municipalities, with results such as the reinforcement of environmental regulations and the creation of damage compensation systems. Collective lawsuits by nuclear accident victims are learning from this past experience.

This article examines the media discourse concerning the damage caused by atomic bombings in Japan. It focuses on the occupation period, when the damage is said to have been concealed, and the 1950s, when the reality of the damage began to emerge in the media. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombings were linked to “peace” in the context of reconstruction. The “peaceful” use of nuclear energy was sought and expectations were placed on atomic medicine in an attempt to link the bombings to medical progress. The damage caused by the atom bombs was thus seemingly forgotten. After the occupation, the damage became widely known but was perceived as something from the past; it did not lead to an anti-nuclear movement. In 1954, however, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru incident, caused by the United States’ hydrogen bomb testing, triggered the Japanese “anti-nuclear” movement. At the time, what people opposed was the military use of these weapons, not the “peaceful” use of atomic energy. By emphasizing the horror caused by the bombs, especially the link between exposure to radiation and deformities, the movement contributed to the discrimination of the survivors of the atomic bombings (hibakusha). In summary, the desire for the “peaceful” use of nuclear energy during the occupation and the “anti-nuclear” movement of the 1950s were involved in making the damage from the atomic bombings both visible and invisible. In the process, they contributed to the suffering of hibakusha.

France and Japan are leading countries in the domain of the nuclear power industry. However, not all nuclear projects were realized as expected in each country. This study looks at two cases, Plogoff, France and Ashihama, Japan, where proposed project failed to be realized due large civil anti-nuclear movements. This paper examines the role of women in these movements.

Plogoff is located in Bretagne (Brittany) in western France. A big nuclear project started there in the late 1970s, and villagers, especially the women, tried to stop it. These were household wives, whose husbands were absent, working on ships at sea. Women barricaded roads or occupied the village square for long periods.

Ashihama is on the coast of southern Mie Prefecture, Japan. A second nuclear project arose there in the 1980s. In the village of Kowaura nearby, fisherman’s wives tried to stop it. In 1994, the women sat in front of the building of the Fishermen’s Association all night, which became a turning point that led to the cancellation of the project.

Women in Plogoff say that only women could take such actions, because the men do not have enough patience to wait every day. Those of Kowaura say, the men put too much importance to social face or public institutions, while the women just tried to keep the sea as it is for descendants.

The two cases show us that the women were in lower social position than men, but they made good use of their position. They fought against the nuclear projects without fear and held onto a clear objective, to simply keep the sea intact.

Women actually achieved more social power than before. They now take positions of decision making, and they may conduct the society to be nuclear free.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of "reconstruction" after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident of TEPCO in the transition of Japan's development system, using "Developmentalism" as an analytical vision.

Japan's nuclear power policy has been promoted under the generous protection of a “developmental state”regime that places the achievement of economic growth and the strengthening of national power as the primary national goals, and the "reconstruction" after 3.11 was developed under this regime with the top priority of "revitalizing the Japanese economy," and the importance of nuclear power has been emphasized even after the accident.

On the other hand, life-threatening risks are underestimated, and some damages are still left unattended, such as the disposal of radioactive materials released into the environment. To deal with these difficult issues, laws have been piled up that are inconsistent with current laws, and what Giorgio Agamben calls the "State of Exception" has become the norm.

In this way, the "Atoms for Peace" is based on shifting the insurmountable damage inevitably caused by the use of nuclear energy , which produce catastrophic damage, to the peripheral people and future generations. The nuclear accident has exposed this structural violence, and "reconstruction" is once again playing a role in making it invisible.

On the other hand, civil society, which has begun to realize that centralized growth strategies do not lead to peace in local communities, has begun to implement practices to restore the autonomy of the basis of existence. In order to avoid the reproduction of the damage caused by nuclear power plants, it is important to dismantle Developmentalism, which places economic growth as the supreme priority, as well as global solidarity in the practice of seeking "Peace for local people”.

This paper aims to shed light on the realities of attempts by African countries to exert influence from within Africa to outside Africa. In order to address this aim, the paper analyzes the decision-making in the African Union (AU) in the context of foreign policy debates and approaches to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and examines the process of transformation of its policy towards the ICC. This paper initially summarizes the previous studies on the judicialization of politics as a framework for discussion and then confirms the decision-making process and its functions in the AU that form the unity of Africa. Then, it examines the concrete development of the judicialization of the ICC policy in the AU and points out the background of the AU's request for an advisory opinion to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) through the UN General Assembly and the possible impact of this trend on the ICC from the AU's perspective.

Through the above discussion, this paper reveals that the AU has been negotiating with the ICC on judicial intervention while maintaining the unity of Africa and asserting its legal rights as "one voice" by making progress in judicialization. Initially, the AU tried to assert the rights of member states within the framework of the Rome Statute, but when this failed, the AU created its own legal rights by taking decisions at the AU Assembly. By deftly using the debates and decisions of the Assembly, the AU is transforming its foreign policy and attempting to negotiate with the outside Africa based on African unity. The discussion in this paper presents a new perspective on the future foreign relations between Africa and outside Africa.