Radioactive Mosquito Bite and Its Surreal Life

Abstract

Abstract The article explores the tensions between the state, science, and the lived experience among the residents in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima. The author proposes the analytics of the “surreal” to apprehend the incommensurable divide invisible radiation in society had produced between the state's techno-scientific focus on making the radiation visible and people's diverse everyday experience of radiation in various aspects of life. Ethnographically retelling the struggles of a medical doctor who came to understand the manifold consequences of the accident in coastal Fukushima, the article shows how social science is a critical stakeholder in addressing the surreal to mediate between science and the lay public, the state and citizen, and risk and life to prevent the individuation of risk perceptions that follow with the emergence of invisible hazards in society.