Establishing conditions for "second town" building for nuclear power plant accident evacuation zone communities

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25590125
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: YAMANAKA Shigeki 関西学院大学, 災害復興制度研究所, 教授 (30411797)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MATSUDA Yoko 関西学院大学, 災害復興制度研究所, 准教授 (90632711)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 原発避難 / 二地域居住 / セカンドタウン / 準市民 / 母村 / 災害復興 / アイデンティティ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to propose a system whereby it would be possible, in terms of both the law and town management, for residents of Fukushima prefecture who have had to evacuate their homes because of the fallout of radioactive material resulting from the nuclear power plant accident to build a “second town” in an uncontaminated area while keeping their original homes. They would not have to completely abandon their first homes, and their residence in the new town would be permanent. Their first homes, though not suitable for residence, would be preserved, and while the decontamination process is continued, the evacuees would build a new town in a new location as their permanent abode while maintaining the identity and bonds of their old community. This remedy, the first of its kind in post-World War II Japan, draws from precedents both in prewar Japan and overseas and tests the transplantation of practices and systems based on today’s legal system and social structure.

Free Research Field

災害復興