Cultural undertakings in Fukushima

 March 10, 2015

Editorial: Cultural programs seek to share burden faced by Fukushima

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150310p2a00m0na012000c.html

Four years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, but a long road to recovery still lies ahead.

Culture has played a valuable role in the rebuilding of areas hit hardest by the triple disasters. In Fukushima, various efforts are being carried out to accommodate and share in the trials and tribulations residents there face even today.

Just recently, the announcement by Tokyo-based anime production company Gainax Co. on its plans to open a subsidiary called Fukushima Gainax in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Miharu in April drew widespread attention. Gainax -- whose animated film "Aoki Uru" (Uru in blue) is currently in production for its 2018 premiere -- will rent a former Miharu municipal junior high school to house its Fukushima-based facilities, which will include a studio and museum. The latter will offer exhibits and classes in which visitors can experience the production process of anime, as well as events by voice actors.

Of particular note is the production company's plan to cooperate with a technical school in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, to allow students to gain work experience at the studio and to offer them employment opportunities after graduation. Nurturing a new generation of animators is not an easy feat, especially in a short span of time, but Fukushima Gainax President Yoshinori Asao seems intent to take on the challenge. "We want to produce new animators from this local area."

Meanwhile, "Nocturne," a play about the 2011 triple disasters written by So Kuramoto and performed by his Furano Group theater company, is currently touring the country, including hard-hit areas in the northeast. The play is set in a house by the sea in an area that has been designated a no-go zone because of the nuclear disaster. It portrays survivors' grief while questioning society's dependence on nuclear power, and urges audiences to consider the nuclear disaster as their own problem.

"I feel as though people in Tokyo have forgotten about Fukushima," says Kuramoto.

A program launched by novelist Hideo Furukawa, originally from Koriyama, is also striking. At "Tadayou manabiya bungaku no gakko" (Drifting school of literature), Fukushima residents are encouraged to express the situations and emotions they experience in their own words. The program was held free of charge in Koriyama and other parts of the prefecture last year, with lectures and workshops offered by sociologist Hiroshi Kainuma, novelist Hiromi Kawakami, and translator Motoyuki Shibata. Participants are broken up into small groups, allowing close contact with instructors.

"Discussions on topics such as the relationship between regional areas and the capital broadened and deepened," says program director Shoichiro Mori. Another round is set to take place in Koriyama this November.

The abovementioned projects all seek to prevent Fukushima from becoming isolated, and to share the burden of the problems the embattled prefecture faces.

The accomplishments of cultural undertakings can be difficult to see at first glance. But they touch people's hearts and become etched in their memories. They encourage adults and cultivate youth. They continue to entertain and enlighten, their effects lasting for years. We hope such cultural efforts will contribute to creating a bright future for Fukushima.