International Political Communication on “Treated Water” Release

• In Event: Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in a Fragmenting World Order

Abstract

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) finally began releasing “treated water” from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant’s tanks in August 2023. The contaminated water had been filtered to contain a much lower level of tritium (1,500 Bq/L) than the international standard (60,000 Bq/L) and the levels at which other countries running nuclear power plants have released treated water (Kobayashi, 2023). Therefore, the political communication was integral to this endeavor, while “vague communication may be explained by the information sender’s idiosyncratic concern” (Honryo & Yano, 2021).

Initially, not only Japanese citizens and fishers but also neighboring countries, South Korea and China, disagreed with the Japanese government’s decision to release the treated water in 2021. However, the decision aligned with the IAEA’s review, and the Japanese government tried to persuade the international community to accept it, and the Korean government eventually accepted the release of the treated water. The Chinese government, however, launched a negative campaign and imposed economic sanctions on all Japanese seafood, although some Chinese citizens and tourists in Japan followed the scientific analysis and began to question China’s decision. The US government supported the Japanese government’s decision, unlike in 2011 when they ordered the US citizens to leave from East Japan, but the Russian government sided with China in October 2023. Why was Japan able to persuade some countries and not others?

This research will clarify how the opinions of four countries and their citizens changed—namely, China, Korea, the United States, and Russia—and entail an analysis of Japanese political communication. The Japanese Foreign Ministry adopted science communication via expert exchanges with Korea; Japanese Prime Minister Kishida sent official letters to neighboring countries; and Japanese embassies disseminated a data analysis via social media, such as Weibo, VKontakte, and X (Twitter). Of course, there were limitations due to the domestic media regulations of each country and nuances of international politics (Matsumoto, 2018). This research will involve collecting the official political communication between countries and to private citizens and analyzing news discourse and public opinion. The treated water issue and seafood sanctions resulted in a power game of international politics, and this research will contribute to addressing harmful rumors and highlight some limitations of political communication.

References
Kobayashi, Y. (2023). Commencement of release of “treated water” from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Efforts to gain the understanding and support of international public opinion. The Sasakawa Peace Foundation. https://www.spf.org/iina/en/articles/yuki_kobayashi_05.html
Matsumoto, A. (2018). Internet campaigning in the US and Japan: Battles in cyber space. SAIS Review of International Affairs (Special theme on Voting: Uses and Abuses), 38(1) 27–38.
Honryo T. & Yano M. (2021). Idiosyncratic Information and Vague Communication. American Political Science Review, Volume 115, Issue 1, pp. 165 – 178.

Author

• Asuka Matsumoto, Tohoku University