Iwai-shima, île antinucléaire

Abstract

Since 1982, the residents of Iwaishima, tiny island in the west of the Seto Inland Sea, have opposed plans to build a nuclear power plant opposite them across the channel. Their motives: loss of fishing grounds, disfigurement of the landscape, environmental damage, changes to their way of life, and a high-level decision that was taken without any real concertation. But as a demographic minority in Kaminoseki (Yamaguchi Prefecture), they are unable to obtain a majority in the municipal council. Their strong community traditions (Kanmai festival, the kabu-uchi system of communal work, etc.), despite rural exodus, and their fishermen’s tenacious defence of their rights over the marine area, have unified them.

Keywords

• Insularity
• Nuclear
• Rural Exodus
• Political Geography
• Matsuri