Tag Archives: Fukushima

Fukushima Colours

3 May 2012

6:00 – 7:00pm, followed by a drinks reception to 8:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Fukushima Colours

Published by Langenskiöld

By Elin Lindqvist

The catastrophe on 11 March 2011 has had a deep impact on the Japanese society, and on our global world. Almost twenty thousand people were left dead or missing after the disaster, and the tsunami destroyed entire communities. It will take years for the full extent of the nuclear crisis’ impact on Japan to become clear. Yet, a year after the tsunami, it is possible to see some of the consequences that the disaster has had on agriculture, the fishing industry, people’s health and research about renewable energy sources.

In her reportage book Fukushima Colours, multilingual author Elin Lindqvist has documented the aftermath of the crisis, in collaboration with Japanese journalist Yuko Ota, and Japanese photographer Yoshikazu Fukuda. She has closely followed eight individuals or groups of individuals representing different parts of Japanese society all through 2011, in order to see how people affected by the crisis have recovered. Through these individual stories, we hear the emergence of a common voice striving towards a more sustainable and ecological future in Japan.         

* The book will be available on the day at the discounted price of £18.

Elin Lindqvist

Elin Lindqvist was born in Tokyo in 1982 and currently lives in England. She has studied at New York University in New York and Sophia University in Tokyo. She is an international writer, and has published three novels in Swedish (Tokyo natt, 2002; Tre röda näckrosor, 2005 and Facklan, 2009). She also works as a freelance journalist, dramaturge and translator. In the spring of 2011, she reported about the catastrophe in Japan for Sweden’s largest newspaper Aftonbladet, and she wrote about the aftermath of the crisis for leading daily newspapersSvenska Dagbladet in Sweden and Aftenposten in Norway.

Dr Akira Matsuda

Dr Akira Matsuda studies the relationship between archaeology – and more broadly cultural heritage – and the general public from anthropological and sociological points of view. He is currently doing research into the representation of damage caused by natural disasters in Japan over the last 500 years. Matsuda completed his PhD in public archaeology at University College London in 2009. He worked as a project-based consultant in UNESCO’s Division of Cultural Heritage in 2004 and 2005, and was a Handa Japanese Archaeology Fellow at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures from January 2009 to August 2011. Since 2010, he has been teaching at the School of World Art Studies and Museology, UEA, and most recently co-edited a book, New Perspectives in Global Public Archaeology (Springer, 2011) with Okamura Katsuyuki. He is the Membership Secretary of the World Archaeological Congress, and is now working on the publication of a book on cultural heritage in East Asia.

BOOKING FORM

Lessons from Japan’s Disaster

22 March 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm

Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE

The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 inflicted unprecedented damage on Japan. The social and economic turmoil continues to this day. The disaster exceeded all assumptions that the nation had made to date, unleashing catastrophic damage of unimaginable magnitude. The release of radioactive substances into the environment from the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant has spread fear about the contamination of agricultural products and about other ramifications. Power shortages caused by reduced electricity generating capacity have extended economic disruption far beyond the areas immediately affected to the country as a whole. Japan’s experience is under scrutiny around the world from the perspective of crisis management. Meanwhile, in the wake of the disaster, people from all over the world extended warm support and encouragement to Japan. This resulted in Japan becoming the world’s largest recipient of aid for the year 2011. (Lessons from the Disaster: Risk management and the compound crisis presented by the Great East Japan Earthquake, edited by Yoichi Funabashi and Heizo Takenaka, The Japan Times, 2011)

The editors of the book believe that they can best repay the world for its interest and concern by reporting on the lessons Japan has learned from the disaster. In the seminar, Professor Takenaka will argue that the current crisis is a “comprehensively linked crisis” and will examine the impact the disaster inflicted on the Japanese economy as a whole, while Dr Funabashi will discuss the “failure” of the governance, calling the nuclear emergency at Fukushima a “man-made crisis”.

Dr Yoichi Funabashi

Dr Yoichi Funabashi is the former Editor-in-Chief and Columnist for the Asahi Shimbun. While at theAsahi Shimbun, Dr Funabashi was selected a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and was appointed Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Economics and Distinguished Guest Fellow at The Brookings Institution. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group and currently serves as Director of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation. Funabashi graduated from the University of Tokyo and acquired his PhD from Keio University, where he is currently Guest Professor.

Professor Heizo Takenaka

Professor Heizo Takenaka is a graduate of Hitotsubashi University, where he earned a BA in Economics. After graduation, he joined the Japan Development Bank and later worked as Senior Economist in the Japanese Ministry of Finance. He was also a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University. During the period 2001–2006, Takenaka served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Koizumi as Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Minister of State for Financial Services, Minister of State for Privatization of the Postal Services, and Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. Takenaka has a PhD in Economics from Osaka University, and is a professor in the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University.

Japan In A Day

Japan In A Day is an extraordinary project to create the definitive self-portrait of Japan today, filmed by you, inspired by Life in a Day. It is dedicated, with our deepest sympathy, to those who lost their lives and those who are suffering as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that struck east Japan last year.

At 00:00 on Sunday 11 March 2012, Ridley Scott and Fuji TV invite you to capture the reality and intimacy of your day.

The resulting film will be a powerful and moving snapshot of Japan today, which will premiere in cinemas, and be screened around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/japaninaday

Fukushima’s animals abandoned and left to die

 

I found very hard to watch the video published on CNN website on Fukushima’s abandoned animals but while watching this sad video I was thinking about all the people who lost their lives, relatives and/or friends and never be able to forget the day Tsunami struck. When I think what human beings had to go through, then the condition of those animals, even if tragic, seems to be less important and I agree Japanese government that it would be far to risky and costly to try to save those animals.

POSTCARDS FROM JAPAN – A Message from Tohoku Artists

12 December 2011 – 31 January 2012
Embassy of Japan, 101/104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT

Admission free; Monday to Friday; 09:30 to 17:30
Visitors are requested to present a form of photographic identification when entering the Embassy.

This month, the Embassy of Japan will host a small exhibition with a rather poignant message.

After the major earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Tohoku region of north-eastern Japan on 11 March 2011, power supplies, telephone land lines and mobile telephone networks were cut and internet access became impossible.

This made it extremely difficult for people to contact family and friends. The Japanese postal service – Japan Post – was, however, quickly up and running again. It was by postcard, in many cases, that people first heard that their loved ones were safe.

Sculptors, Katagiri Hironori and Kate Thomson, share their time between Iwate and Scotland. They were working in their studios in the countryside of Iwate when the immense earthquake of 11 March 2011 struck. Their home and studio inland were not damaged and they were safe, but they were desperately worried about family and friends along the Tohoku coast. In the days after the quake, power and telephone connections slowly returned. Despite the telephone lines’ being restored, however, they could still not get through to anyone.

Inspired by the impact that the receiving of postcards can have, Katagiri and Thomson invited Tohoku-based artists from Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and Aomori prefectures to make new work for Postcards From Japan – A Message from Tohoku Artists. Even artists who had lost so much in the tsunami were enthusiastic to celebrate life through art with their communication with the world outside. The results are works made especially for this exhibition and which give an insight into the incredible grace and resilience of the people of North East Japan.

The priority in the devastated regions is to rebuild communities and livelihoods and the recovery will take years. Art and culture will play vital roles in this recovery and in celebrating life itself, helping to nurture imagination, energy and the determination to move on. Many people in Japan have realised that family, friends and communities are their most precious treasures and that they require and deserve the most time and investment. Cherishing the relationships they have, people are re-establishing contact with those with whom they had lost touch.

The project continues and in response, artists from around the world are being invited to make ‘Postcards to Japan’ and post them to Tohoku as tangible messages of support to communities affected by the devastation.

Please see www.postcardproject.org for more information.

Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarships

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation announces the launch of a £250,000 scholarship fund to support Japanese students whose lives and studies have been affected by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the north east of Japan. Scholarships will be made available to undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral students from the Tohoku region for study at universities in the UK. In the aftermath of this terrible disaster in Japan and in keeping with the educational objects of the Foundation, we hope that these new scholarships will contribute to the future of young people in the region. The Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarships are being organised in partnership with the British Council in Tokyo. Further details and application procedures will be available shortly.

Countermeasures for the Great East Japan Earthquake

This event seems to be very relevant for those worried about the situation in Japan.


Detailed information and registration form here.

Thursday, 21st April 2011 13.30-15.00

Venue Address:
JETRO London
MidCity Place 71, High Holborn London WC1V 6AL
Tel: 020-7421-8300, FAX : 020-7421-0009
Website: http://www.jetro.go.jp/uk/contact/

To apply, please fax a registration form to JETRO London by 19th April.
Capacity is 100 people, and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

In further detail, an explanation will be made on the current situation in Japan regarding nuclear reactors, radiation levels in and around the major cities, regulations surrounding food products and tap water, regulation on exports, and the conditions of Japanese harbours and airports. The speakers will in turn explain the countermeasures that are being, and will be taken in response to the damages caused by the disaster.

History Repeats by Kenzaburo Oe

I decided to post an interesting and provoking article written by Kenzaburo Oe and published by The New Yorker on the recent events. Let me know your opinion.

By chance, the day before the earthquake, I wrote an article, which was published a few days later, in the morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun. The article was about a fisherman of my generation who had been exposed to radiation in 1954, during the hydrogen-bomb testing at Bikini Atoll. I first heard about him when I was nineteen. Later, he devoted his life to denouncing the myth of nuclear deterrence and the arrogance of those who advocated it. Was it a kind of sombre foreboding that led me to evoke that fisherman on the eve of the catastrophe? He has also fought against nuclear power plants and the risk that they pose. I have long contemplated the idea of looking at recent Japanese history through the prism of three groups of people: those who died in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those who were exposed to the Bikini tests, and the victims of accidents at nuclear facilities. If you consider Japanese history through these stories, the tragedy is self-evident. Today, we can confirm that the risk of nuclear reactors has become a reality. However this unfolding disaster ends—and with all the respect I feel for the human effort deployed to contain it—its significance is not the least bit ambiguous: Japanese history has entered a new phase, and once again we must look at things through the eyes of the victims of nuclear power, of the men and the women who have proved their courage through suffering. The lesson that we learn from the current disaster will depend on whether those who survive it resolve not to repeat their mistakes.

This disaster unites, in a dramatic way, two phenomena: Japan’s vulnerability to earthquakes and the risk presented by nuclear energy. The first is a reality that this country has had to face since the dawn of time. The second, which may turn out to be even more catastrophic than the earthquake and the tsunami, is the work of man. What did Japan learn from the tragedy of Hiroshima? One of the great figures of contemporary Japanese thought, Shuichi Kato, who died in 2008, speaking of atomic bombs and nuclear reactors, recalled a line from “The Pillow Book,” written a thousand years ago by a woman, Sei Shonagon, in which the author evokes “something that seems very far away but is, in fact, very close.” Nuclear disaster seems a distant hypothesis, improbable; the prospect of it is, however, always with us. The Japanese should not be thinking of nuclear energy in terms of industrial productivity; they should not draw from the tragedy of Hiroshima a “recipe” for growth. Like earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural calamities, the experience of Hiroshima should be etched into human memory: it was even more dramatic a catastrophe than those natural disasters precisely because it was man-made. To repeat the error by exhibiting, through the construction of nuclear reactors, the same disrespect for human life is the worst possible betrayal of the memory of Hiroshima’s victims.

I was ten years old when Japan was defeated. The following year, the new Constitution was proclaimed. For years afterward, I kept asking myself whether the pacifism written into our Constitution, which included the renunciation of the use of force, and, later, the Three Non-Nuclear Principles (don’t possess, manufacture, or introduce into Japanese territory nuclear weapons) were an accurate representation of the fundamental ideals of postwar Japan. As it happens, Japan has progressively reconstituted its military force, and secret accords made in the nineteen-sixties allowed the United States to introduce nuclear weapons into the archipelago, thereby rendering those three official principles meaningless. The ideals of postwar humanity, however, have not been entirely forgotten. The dead, watching over us, oblige us to respect those ideals, and their memory prevents us from minimizing the pernicious nature of nuclear weaponry in the name of political realism. We are opposed. Therein lies the ambiguity of contemporary Japan: it is a pacifist nation sheltering under the American nuclear umbrella. One hopes that the accident at the Fukushima facility will allow the Japanese to reconnect with the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to recognize the danger of nuclear power, and to put an end to the illusion of the efficacy of deterrence that is advocated by nuclear powers.

When I was at an age that is commonly considered mature, I wrote a novel called “Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness.” Now, in the final stage of life, I am writing a “last novel.” If I manage to outgrow this current madness, the book that I write will open with the last line of Dante’s Inferno: “And then we came out to see once more the stars.”