By: Haruya Nihei
In this my first article, I introduce my Japanese friends’ project, which is implemented this year. They participated in “Looking Beyond Disaster 2: UNESCO Forum” last year and made a project group and action plan called “Share Disaster Memories”, which is available on the Internet (UNESCO Bangkok). In order to proceed with the action plan they started to cooperate with another volunteer group consisted of Japanese members of YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association). This group has the experience of providing a meeting place to the victims in Fukushima, allowing them to communicate freely. Consequently they have shared their ideas in order to plan bigger projects and made up the new action plan which is called “Project: Connect the young voices from the earthquake disaster to the future”.
The other day I met Tsuyoshi Sotoya, who is the core member of the project as well as a participant of the LBD2 and interviewed about this project in detail. He is originally from Kobe, where there was a big earthquake in 1995, and now he is a university student in Tokyo. I will now introduce the overview of this project based on the interview with Tsuyoshi and their proposal paper.
Briefly, they offer the place where young victims and non-victims can meet and share the experiences of the disaster as well as the current situation of affected areas.
Through this project, they aim to accomplish:
1. Building a wide network of young people who would like to share their experiences and impressions of the disaster or the current situation of the affected area
2. Offering the place to let young people think together deeply about themselves and the future of their society
3. Long-term help for the victims and the affected areas
Then, why did Tsuyoshi’s group believe that these three points are needed for the victims and the affected areas? They judged it from the real voices of young people, both who was affected by the disaster and who was not.
There is the fact that people’s interest in the disaster has gradually faded away as time passed. But the affected areas have not been recovered yet and still need long-term help. Therefore, the victims would like to let other people know about the current situation and revive their interest to the state following the great disaster. There is also the fact that there are young people who have never experienced the disaster and want to know the circumstances regarding the tragedy, which they hardly know from media. Also, people who evacuated from Fukushima to other places after the disaster want to be updated about the situation in their hometown. Hearing those voices, the project group thought offering meeting places might satisfy their needs as well as let the victims tell someone what they have on their mind concerning the disaster and release the stored trauma.
Regarding the second point, the project group thought not only sharing their experiences but also thinking what they can do for their community might bring them to find a goal and hope towards their future.
Concerning the third point, time lets people forget what they have experienced and felt from the disaster, hence it is important to write down and record their memories in order to pass them on to the future generations.
The project group believes that this is what people need in Japan today and this project will satisfy those needs. The project group also received sponsorship from a Japanese foundation and will officially start to implement the project this year. The proposed regions to have the meeting spot are: Fukushima, Miyagi, Hyogo, Tokyo and Osaka at the moment.
With these final words from the interview with Tsuyoshi I would like to take the opportunity to wish them good luck and hope that they will achieve their goals.
Me: “Why did you start this kind of reconstruction work?”
Tsuyoshi: “Because I just wanted to be of help to the victims even if only slightly. And I myself have wanted to discuss about the society after the disaster and share the opinions with young people of my generation”
Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions to this project. It would help them a lot. And if you want to take part or get involved in the project, please contact us.
In this my first article, I introduce my Japanese friends’ project, which is implemented this year. They participated in “Looking Beyond Disaster 2: UNESCO Forum” last year and made a project group and action plan called “Share Disaster Memories”, which is available on the Internet (UNESCO Bangkok). In order to proceed with the action plan they started to cooperate with another volunteer group consisted of Japanese members of YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association). This group has the experience of providing a meeting place to the victims in Fukushima, allowing them to communicate freely. Consequently they have shared their ideas in order to plan bigger projects and made up the new action plan which is called “Project: Connect the young voices from the earthquake disaster to the future”.
The other day I met Tsuyoshi Sotoya, who is the core member of the project as well as a participant of the LBD2 and interviewed about this project in detail. He is originally from Kobe, where there was a big earthquake in 1995, and now he is a university student in Tokyo. I will now introduce the overview of this project based on the interview with Tsuyoshi and their proposal paper.
Briefly, they offer the place where young victims and non-victims can meet and share the experiences of the disaster as well as the current situation of affected areas.
Through this project, they aim to accomplish:
1. Building a wide network of young people who would like to share their experiences and impressions of the disaster or the current situation of the affected area
2. Offering the place to let young people think together deeply about themselves and the future of their society
3. Long-term help for the victims and the affected areas
Then, why did Tsuyoshi’s group believe that these three points are needed for the victims and the affected areas? They judged it from the real voices of young people, both who was affected by the disaster and who was not.
There is the fact that people’s interest in the disaster has gradually faded away as time passed. But the affected areas have not been recovered yet and still need long-term help. Therefore, the victims would like to let other people know about the current situation and revive their interest to the state following the great disaster. There is also the fact that there are young people who have never experienced the disaster and want to know the circumstances regarding the tragedy, which they hardly know from media. Also, people who evacuated from Fukushima to other places after the disaster want to be updated about the situation in their hometown. Hearing those voices, the project group thought offering meeting places might satisfy their needs as well as let the victims tell someone what they have on their mind concerning the disaster and release the stored trauma.
Regarding the second point, the project group thought not only sharing their experiences but also thinking what they can do for their community might bring them to find a goal and hope towards their future.
Concerning the third point, time lets people forget what they have experienced and felt from the disaster, hence it is important to write down and record their memories in order to pass them on to the future generations.
The project group believes that this is what people need in Japan today and this project will satisfy those needs. The project group also received sponsorship from a Japanese foundation and will officially start to implement the project this year. The proposed regions to have the meeting spot are: Fukushima, Miyagi, Hyogo, Tokyo and Osaka at the moment.
With these final words from the interview with Tsuyoshi I would like to take the opportunity to wish them good luck and hope that they will achieve their goals.
Me: “Why did you start this kind of reconstruction work?”
Tsuyoshi: “Because I just wanted to be of help to the victims even if only slightly. And I myself have wanted to discuss about the society after the disaster and share the opinions with young people of my generation”
Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions to this project. It would help them a lot. And if you want to take part or get involved in the project, please contact us.
RSS Feed