WORKSHOP ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER
Kanto-based Social Scientists Share notes on the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

The Great Earthquake and Tsunami of March 2011 has undoubtedly impacted your lives.

In a roundtable workshop at TUJ, anthropologists and sociologists will exchange stories and interpretations of what we have been going through during and after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami as residents of the Kanto region.

We recognize that the inconveniences we suffered are trivial compared to those of coastal Tohoku.
Nevertheless, a vast inland region of northeastern Japan felt a severe earthquake, and experienced myriad emergencies to varying degrees depending on distances from the epicenters of disaster. Residents of the Kanto megalopolis as well, feared, or perhaps had been, directly on the brink of greater disaster.

The participants all feel a strong need to touch bases with friends and colleagues at this moment in history, while our memories and impressions are still immediate, and before we are swept away by the next stage of life.
Each participant picked a compelling issue emerging from their experience, and we ask the other members of the group to be sounding boards for our hypotheses to understand disaster response in Japan and other societies, as well how to come to terms with such overwhelming catastrophe so close to us.

Participants:

David Sprague (NIAES) Spatially (dis)oriented
culture(s) of safety in an unfolding crisis John Mock
(TUJ) & Michael Cucek (Independent scholar) Scoring public policies: lessons learned (or not) Paul Hansen (Tsukuba U) Fly-(in)-Jin: Coming to Japan at a time of crisis Sachiko Horiguchi (TUJ) How Japanese who were 'not there' make sense of the 311 disaster Daniel White (Waseda U) The informational architecture of Japan's public spheres Kyle Cleveland (TUJ) [TBA] David Slater (Sophia U) Dynamics of volunteering Philomena Keet
(SOAS) Concerns with an infant

WORKSHOP INFORMATION

Title: Workshop on the Brink of Disaster: Kanto-based Social Scientists
Share notes on the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Organized by: John Mock (TUJ) and David Sprague (NIAES)
Time: Friday, October 21, 2011, 16:00-19:00
Place: Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies, Temple University Japan
Location: Rm 207, TUJ Azabu Hall, 〒106-0047 東京都港区
南麻布2-8-12
How to get there: Tokyo Metro/Toei Chikatestu, Azabu-Juban Station or
Shirokane-Takanawa Station
Map: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/about/access/index.html

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David S. Sprague Ph.D.
National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences Tsukuba