The Contemporary Japan Group at the Institute of Social
Science (ISS, or Shaken), University of Tokyo, welcomes
you to a lecture by Tom Gill, professor of social
anthropology, Meiji Gakuin University, on "Fukushima
and Furusato: Rural Community after Nuclear Disaster"

Thursday, July 25, 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Akamon Sōgō
Kenkyūtō Room 549, Institute of Social Science,
University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo.

ABSTRACT

Everyone in Japan is supposed to love their home-town
or ‘furusato’, celebrated in hundreds of sentimental
songs as an idyllic rural community with a relaxed pace
of life. There is an irony there, of course, since most
of Japan’s population has long since abandoned rural
life. But many of the victims of the 3.11 disasters
were among the minority of Japanese people who still
live in small rural communities, with a life-style
based on the three-generation family living under a
single roof. The 3.11 disaster has forced rural
communities in Fukushima to confront the question of
what ‘home’ really means. Is it defined by a locality,
or by the people who live there? And if you have to
abandon one or the other, which do you choose? The land
and the houses are still there; the radiation levels
are slowly coming down. As the government gradually
lifts evacuation orders on the contaminated towns and
villages, the questions of who will return, and when,
are becoming more pressing. Many thorny issues are
involved: whether one trusts government assurances of
safety; whether one still considers the place home
after years living elsewhere; whether children now used
to the convenience of city life will be happy to return
to a remote rural dwelling; whether living in the
ancestral furusato will expose one’s family to
discrimination; and whether one can afford to live
elsewhere, once government compensation payments cease.
In this presentation I will take a close look at how
these issues are playing out for people living in one
of these rural communities – the hamlet of Nagadoro, in
Iitate village. The hamlet is deserted and barricaded,
its population scattered. Will the community survive,
and if so, how and where?

SPEAKER

Tom Gill is a professor of social anthropology in the
Faculty of International Studies at the Yokohama campus
of Meiji Gakuin University. After many years
researching casual labour, urban poverty and
homelessness, his interest in marginal people has led
him to fieldwork in the Fukushima nuclear disaster zone
for the last two years. He is co-editor with David
Slater and Brigitte Steger of Higashi Nihon Dai-Shinsai
no Jinruigaku (Anthropology of the Great Eastern Japan
Disaster; 2013). An English-language edition, Japan
Copes with Calamity, is forthcoming from Peter Lang.
http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~gill/

CONTEMPORARY JAPAN GROUP

The ISS Contemporary Japan Group provides
English-speaking residents of the Tokyo area with an
opportunity to hear cutting-edge research in social
science and related policy issues, as well as a venue
for researchers and professionals in or visiting Tokyo
to present and receive knowledgeable feedback on their
latest research projects. Admission is free and advance
registration is not required. Everyone is welcome.

For more information, please visit our website:
http://web.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cjg/ [NOTICE: CORRECT DATE
IS JULY 25]

or contact

Gregory W. NOBLE (noble[at]iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp)