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Solomon is a royal pageant affirming the Hanoverian monarchy. Its three Parts each revolve around Solomon and a female character, a structure that is based on the story of Solomon in 1 Kings 3–11. In the biblical text Solomon's wisdom is measured by how he deals with women. All the women he encounters are ‘strange’, i.e. foreign and/or sexually available, which signals potential danger; while he keeps such women in their place he is wise, but allowing himself to be led astray by them causes his downfall. In the libretto, however, there is no downfall; rather, Solomon builds and dedicates the Temple, to divine approval, and then goes on to deal appropriately with Pharaoh's daughter, two quarrelling prostitutes, and the Queen of Sheba, who like all the Israelites lavish respectful adulation upon him. This gives the picture of a stable and prosperous regime headed by a wise and pious king.

This chapter explores major works of Sakyo Komatsu, one of the Founding Fathers of contemporary Japanese science fiction, with special emphasis on his 1964 novel The Day of Resurrection, along with Fukasaku Kinji's 1980 film adaptation Virus. While his first novel, The Japanese Apache (1964), narrates the way postwar Japanese have reconstructed their identity as cyborgian, this second novel, The Day of Resurrection, dramatizes how full-scale nuclear war is ignited by the possible coincidences between natural disaster and artificial disaster, which we were to witness nearly fifty years after original publication of the novel—in the multiple disasters in eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The chapter also speculates on the transnational impacts of the novel upon Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain (1969) and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008).

The pursuit of an affluence of the heart has been heightened in the millennial years, exemplified by the idea of mottainai discussed in the previous chapter, advice literature about decluttering, and the promotion of saving money and time. Though sharing an emphasis on psychological and spiritual richness, these broad and diverse conceptions of waste consciousness have been quite different in their treatment of material things, temporal orientations, and conceptions of the self. And these many and disparate elements of waste consciousness were perpetuated, not reconciled, diminished, or erased, by the disasters of 3.11.

Innovation 25 was introduced in 2007 as Prime Minister Abe’s visionary and futuristic blueprint for robotizing Japan by 2025. This policy proposal was supported by subsequent administrations and then revamped following Abe’s reelection in 2012. The conservative sociopolitical aspects of the proposal are elaborated and the use of graphic propaganda to promote Abe’s nationalist policies is reviewed. Members of the Innovation 25 Strategy Council are identified, and opposition to Innovation 25 is summarized. Corporate mismanagement in the aftermath of the trifold disaster of March 11, 2011 (3/11), is critiqued. Contrary to pre-disaster expectations, robots proved incapable of navigating the tsunami-damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima. The Abe administration’s fostering of “robot dreams” among children and the general public is reviewed and characterized in terms of reactionary postmodernism.

Despite a Chernobyl-level nuclear disaster and the largest protests in fifty years, Japan is poised to restart nuclear reactors. A major dampener to political change has been the reluctance of the media—as well as popular musicians—to discuss antinuclear views. The word “Fukushima” is avoided (in favor of “3.11”) in discussions of the nuclear accident, and even rappers censor themselves. This chapter discusses the types of censorship in global popular music and the self-censorship prevalent in Japan. Three parameters determine musicians’ political behavior—their position in the music industry, the space in which they are playing, and the political conditions at the time. The four spaces of musical protest—cyberspace, demonstrations, festivals, and recordings—are analyzed in terms of Lefebvre and Harvey’s framework of perceived, conceived, and lived space. Depending on their position, the space, and political conditions, musicians adjust the level of self-censorship, the form of audience participation, the frame of the message, and the messaging technique.

This chapter describes the power structures and financial incentives that have kept nuclear power in place in Japan despite a catastrophe. These structures have persisted since the 1950s, when future Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro and a U.S.-supported media blitz promoted nuclear power. Following the Fukushima disaster, frustration with information disclosure and revelations of past cover-ups at nuclear facilities undermined the “safety myth” that Japanese nuclear power was accident-free. Most citizens now believe that the Fukushima nuclear disaster was the result of a “nuclear village” of vested financial interests encompassing the nuclear industry, bureaucrats, politicians, academics, and the media; most favor a phase-out of nuclear power. Despite historically large and persistent protests, the Japanese government plans to restart nuclear reactors. Similarly, the Abe Shinzō administration has ignored widespread public objection to the Secrecy Law and the reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution.

This chapter explores the role of Japanese musicians in the antinuclear movement and the factors that motivate them to participate despite strong disincentives. While Western entertainers attract media coverage to their causes, the Japanese media has ignored, censored, attacked, and blacklisted politically engaged entertainers. Musicians invested in antinuclear activism are often parents, were outsiders as children, or come from towns damaged on 3.11 or near other nuclear plants. They also need to be able to risk taking a political stance, by either not being affiliated with a major label, or having sufficient stature or longevity to market themselves despite lost media exposure. In addition to performing, musicians publish papers (Gotō Masafumi) and educational websites (Shing02), organize antinuclear events (Sakamoto Ryūichi), and run charities (Likkle Mai, Ko, and Anamizu Masahiko).