Dreux Richard presents post-Fukushima Japan in three illustrative parts. He follows members of Japan’s Nigerian community, who have been affected by Japan’s flawed and exploitative visa system. He surveys the northernmost town in Japan, which is rapidly depopulating as its residents age and die. And he takes us into the offices of nuclear regulatory officials who cannot agree on the parameters of their own earthquake fault review, which will determine whether the nation’s riskiest reactors will be allowed to restart.
Richard’s perceptive and probing reporting establishes him as an authority on his subjects, but he remains aware of his status as an outsider and interpreter for his listeners. The personal elements in his subjects’ stories as well as his own expatriate perspective provide a distinctive understanding of today’s Japan that goes far beyond politics, truisms, and sensational arguments.
