Desideri nucleari: convergenze mediatiche nelle culture popolari giapponesi,

In the aftermath of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan on March 11 2011, one disputed issue has been not only nuclear energy policies promoted by the government and corporations, but also their acceptance among the general public. Despite being the only nation to experience atomic bombing on its population and despite assertive anti-nuclear movements in the postwar period, in the last decades approval or indifference to the risks posed by nuclear energy has become widespread. This paper suggests the strategical relevance of popular cultures in the negotiation of conflicting discourses, representations, and practices resulting in the hegemonic consensus on nuclear related issues (Utsumi 2011; Yoshimi, 2012). Since the postwar period, Japan has become by far the world’s first producer and consumer of comics (or manga), articulating a pervasive version of media convergence, which is informed by the aesthetics of the mangaesque (Berndt, 2007) and is empowered by the growing constellation of interconnected media and related practices (comics, animation, video-games, theatrical films, pop-art exhibitions, mobile phones, Web 2.0 sites, youth subcultures, etc.). In order to explore how contested perceptions of the nuclear have been domesticated, naturalised, and ultimately reproduced from ‘below’, this paper will address some of its most popular representations (Astroboy, Barefoot Gen, Little Boy). Furthermore, it will investigate the cumulative effects of transmedia connectivity in terms of affective involvement induced by the mangaesque, ranging from cute kawaii to more sexualised moe affect. Particular attention will be given to the biopolitical mobilisation, intensification, and dispersion of desire stimulated by recent “database consumption” (Azuma, 2001) and moe anthropomorphism of the nuclear.