Sounding Against Nuclear Power in Post-3.11 Japan: Resonances of Silence and Chindon-ya

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, I explore the tension between the socially mandated silence of jishuku and the sounds of anti-nuclear power street protests to investigate how chindon-ya, an ostentatious musical advertisement practice on the street, has become politicized as a sonic emblem of the recent anti-nuclear movement in post-3.11 disaster Japan. By listening to both the sound of chindon-ya at demonstrations and the weighty silence of jishuku together, I suggest that chindon-ya sounds are foregrounding new political possibilities, enabling a broader-based movement toward, and beyond, what anthropologist Marc Abélès calls "the politics of survival" in contemporary Japan.