The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) is a research center for ethnology and cultural anthropology.

Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology

2017-Vol. 41, No. 4

March 30, 2017 Publication

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Contents

 

Outline

Research Notes

 

 

Materializing Memories of Disasters:
Individual Experiences in Conflict Concerning Disaster
Remains in the Affected Regions of the
Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Isao Hayashi

  In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and consequent tsunamis, disaster remains and wreckage have attracted the attention of the general public, scholars, and mass media, with expectations that they preserve the situation of damage and that visitors can see with their own eyes the damage caused by energy radiated from nature, while simultaneously recalling the disaster victims and their bereaved. Conversely, there have been strong demands to demolish and remove such remains as debris, particularly from the bereaved of those killed in the disaster. The disaster remains evoke various memories, including of the disaster itself and of the days before it struck.
  In this paper, I attempt to clarify the conflicts among the people and conflicts within individuals as processes of discussion of preserving disaster remains and of forming collective memories.

Key Words:collective memory, experience, Great East Japan Earthquake, conflict, disaster remains

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The Spirit of Renovation of the Main Exhibition:
Reflections on Renewal after 40 Years

Sudo, Ken'ichi

Japanese only