Out Corporate Flier gives an overview of the activities of Litera Japan and its Founding Director Nishizawa. For downloading the flier click here .
contact: office[at]literajapan.com
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Selected recent activities, click here for blog
Stakeholder Dialogue
The Risk know-how initiative by UK’s Sense about Science made us possible to organise this stakeholder event in Iitate Village of Fukushima between 12-and 13 of November 2025. The village has been largely agricultural, but some parts were contaminated by nuclear fallouts during the nuclear accident. Not only inviting 13 university/college students from varying regions and majors, but researchers, policymakers and journalists, we discussed the future of nuclide control of rice straw to be fed on cows. Should we maintain this stringent way of control if the evidence did not strongly support its effectiveness. Thanks to the students, the discussion was constructive and future oriented. A part of this event was aired by NHK Fukushima. For more information, click here
Interviews
An interview by a UK media outlet, Strategic Risk about Nishizawa’s path to risk communication specialist.Studied in the UK and Germany and then set up Litera Japan spacialised on risk communication. Please have a look! Nuclear communicator | News | Strategic Risk Asia Pacific (strategicrisk-asiapacific.com)
Talks and lectures
WM 2025: Nishizawa has presented two different works drawn from the development and reconstruction of the affected areas in Fukushima.
- 103 Public Engagement Through Social Sciences and Communications (8.15) Participatory Environmental Remediation / Reconstruction After a Nuclear Accident: A Case of Winery Development in Fukushima WM2025
- 178A Panel: Indigenous Perspectives on Risk Assessment (R8.04)WM2025
Roundtable: Communication is Power for the Nuclear Industry in Japan, The Mansfield Foundation
On December 2, 2022, the Mansfield Foundation convened a roundtable discussion with Dr. Mariko Nishizawa (Founding Director, Litera Japan) and Mr. Paul Dickman (Senior Policy Fellow, Argonne National Laboratory) who spoke on the challenges of recruiting a new generation of talent for the future of the nuclear industry in Japan. Dr. Nishizawa started the discussion by looking at why young talents are not joining the nuclear industry in Japan. (Click here for synopsis)
Publications (for free download)
A Springer book on risk communication (published in 2018) is an open access book for free-download. Nishizawa has contributed to a chapter on Fukushima Nuclear Accident and communication issues. PP.81-93.
Click → HERE (for download URL to retrieve the entire book)
IAEA Publication ” RISK COMMUNICATION AS A KEY DRIVER FOR FOSTERING A MORE RESILIENT SAFETY CULTURE: Two empirical cases from Japan in the post-Fukushima accident period” pp135-152. https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1810_web.pdf
Global Research and Consultancy
Dr Nishizawa has spend 10 years in Europe for her research. She earned her PhD from Imperial College London in 2003 on risk policy and communication from the School of Humanities. She continued her research in Stuttgart, Germany until 2005.
Litera Japan provides advisory services to private firms and public organisations on risk-related issues in the fields varying from foods, dietary suppliments, agricultral products, chemicals, radioactive materials to energy.
An external partner at Dialogik gGmbH, a non-profit organisation led by Professor Ortwin Renn since 2000.
IAEA consultancy
Since 2023, Nishizawa has participated in and contributed to the discussions at a range of IAEA technical and consultancy meetings on environmental remediation and stakeholder engagement at different IAEA sections.
Nishizawa acted as a consultant at the IAEA on emergency communication and stakeholder involvement between 2016 and 2017. The document has been published as IAEA Standard No. GSG-14 for public communication in radiological emergency ( Arrangements for Public Communication in Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency | IAEA).
She has given a plenary talk at an IAEA meeting. Its abstract is found in the following proceedings: Proceedings of an International Conference Held in Vienna, Austria, 22–26 February 2016. Human and Organizational Aspects of Assuring Nuclear Safety — Exploring 30 Years of Safety Culture 18-03861_P1810_book.indb (iaea.org)
Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee at TEPCO
Nishizawa sits on safety commission of TEPCO from April 2021. The Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, a third-party advisory panel to the Management Board of the company. After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the firm is undergoing reforming process to secure nuclear safety and instill nuclear safety culture.
The latest committee meeting in 2022 from a click here
A selected newspaper article coverage on the meeting ( 東京電力「原子力改革監視委員会」が開催 | 原子力産業新聞 (jaif.or.jp)
Education and Training
Dr Nishizawa currently teaches technology and ethics at the Graduate School, University of Tsukuba. She taught at distinguished national universities such as Universiy of Tokyo and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Titech) on risk management and policy. At Titech she has give a series of lectures on nuclear safety for Japanese and foreign students in English. AT the MBA course at BBT, she contributed to a class on technology and society.
Litera Japan provides tailored training for public/government institutes such as Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Jaguar/Landrover on risk and crisis information delivery and stakeholder dialogue. Dr Nishizawa gives regular training courses and talks at a number of unversities/international bodies/ministries/corporations on risk/crisis communication and management. Click here for further information on her current teaching duties.
Recently, Nishizawa is regularly teaching at the communication training programme (funded by MEXT and a joint programme with the IAEA) at Wakasawan Energy Centre/Fukui for regulatory personnels and future leaders from Middle East and Asian countries since 2018.
She is a regular guest lecturer at overseas universities such as the Taiwan National University.
