Since 2014 I have posted an annual list of 3.11 events in the Boston area but I have learned that most events have been discontinued. As far as I know, Tewassa, a Cambridge-based volunteer organization, is the only group holding a 3.11 memorial event in the Greater Boston area this year.
Harvard University has been hosting talks on 3.11 since the disaster. This year's talk, "Recovering Agency: The Politics of Reconstruction in Post-Tsunami Tohoku" occurred last month on February 13th and is available as a podcast. The talk was delivered by Andrew Littlejohn, postdoctoral tellow in the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations with Prof. Daniel Aldrich from Northeastern University serving as discussant. Prof. Aldrich's work on resilience in post-disaster recovery areas around the globe is really interesting and worth exploring if you have an interest in disaster recovering and building resilience even in non-disaster areas.
Tewassa,
a Cambridge-based volunteer group that produces "message quilts" for
schools and organizations in the Tōhoku region, will be holding their annual memorial event.
Date & Time
Saturday, March 10, 2018
2:00 - 4:00pm
Public Transit & Parking
GrayMist
is accessible by the 72 and 75 buses from Harvard Square. There is free
on-street parking along Huron Ave. and neighboring streets.
Students from Tohoku University of Art and Design installed an art and friendship exhibit titled "HOME" at the Boston Children's Museum to mark the
anniversary of 3.11.
"HOME” is an exhibit that explores the meaning and influence of home from the perspective of Japanese students. The exhibit will showcase artwork created by the students of the “Art Thinking” project team at Tohoku University of Art & Design (TUAD) in Japan. This is their sixth annual international friendship project bringing their art exhibition and hands-on activity programs to Boston.
Using the theme HOME, the artists encourage Museum visitors to explore how home shapes identity, a sense of belonging, and responsibility toward others. This gallery exhibition asks the visitors “What is the definition of home to you?” and “What makes your home special?”
In this gallery exhibition, located next to the Museum’s Japanese House exhibit, an authentic 100-year old house from Kyoto, Japan, the artworks will share the ideas of today’s multifaceted youth culture of Japan, and demonstrate each individual’s thoughts and narratives. Through their art expressions, they share their unique own identities and stories.
The Art Thinking project is part of TUAD’s school curricula and research to create a space for community building through art experience. Artists in this show are students from the Tohoku region of Japan, where many of them witnessed and experienced the loss of homes and hometowns during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Through the art, these students search for the meaning of home and welcome Museum visitors to share ideas.
Date & Time
Open through Sunday, September 30, 2018
Admission
Please see the museum's website for admission details.
Please note that "Adults unaccompanied by children must leave proper photo identification
at the Admissions Desk. Examples: State Driver’s License or Passport."
Parking
Parking around MIT is very challenging so if you can take the T you should. There are some two hour metered parking spaces on Vassar St. and nearby streets. The nearest parking garages are in Kendall Square.
[The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere] (ESPN)
Directed by Mickey Duzyj. 2016. USA. 19min.
In
2003, Japan was plunged into economic darkness, and people needed a ray
of hope. They found one in Haru Urara, a racehorse with a pink Hello
Kitty mask and a career-long losing streak.
[Wasabi]
Directed by Bunji Sotoyama. 2016. Japan. 29min.
Aoi
is a high school student living with her father, Kazuo, who suffers
from depression. Kazuo is unable to run his sushi restaurant due to his
illness, leaving Aoi no choice but to succeed her father to save the
restaurant. She turns to a magical baseball pitch to find her fate.
[Complex x Complex]
Directed by Miyuki Fukuda 2015 Japan. 24min.
Eighth
grader Yui longs to be a grown-up. She considers armpit hair the symbol
of adulthood, so her classmate Takeo—who has the thickest underarm hair
in the class—becomes her idol. Is it love? A coming-of-age story about
puberty, love, and halting conversation.
[I & Myself]
Directed by Hisanori Tsukuda. 2017. Japan. 5min.
Mizuho
came to Tokyo to make her dream a reality, but things have not been
going well for her. She finds herself thinking, "What did I come to
Tokyo for ... ?" Depressed and on her way home one day, she is stopped
by a lady, who, to her astonishment, is another version of herself.
[Sociopaths]
Directed by A.T.. 2015. Japan. 6min.
A girl encounters an android on the street. Unnerved by the experience,
she decides to follow the android to give it a "message.”
[Post X years later]
Directed by Hideaki Ito. 2015. Japan. 86 min.
In the aftermath of WW2 the Bikini Atoll was used by the United States as a testing ground for Nuclear and Thermonuclear technology until 1957. In 1954 the largest test - the detonation of a Hydrogen bomb in Operation Castle Bravo - resulted in a significant amount of fallout that impacted inhabited areas. Among the exposed in the incident was the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru with a crew of 23, who at the time was outside of the "danger zone" declared by the US Government. While history has documented the plight of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, the reality is many other boats also outside the "danger zone" were similarly exposed. Now 59 years later, a documentary crew in Japan revisits the incident and interviews surviving fishermen, including some from other Japanese boats in the area, to bring to light an ordeal whose full impact has been kept in the dark by both the US and Japan governments.
If you are aware of a 3.11 event that I have not listed, please post
a comment with a link to the event or details if the info isn't on a
public webpage. I will update this post if I learn of any other events.
Although the world's attention has moved on to other disasters, some
groups in Boston continue to be involved in educating the public and supporting Japan through
this crisis. If you are interested in learning
more, please consider attending one of these events. Events are listed in chronological order.
Update 3/1/17: I just learned that MIT Japanese Tea Ceremony will not hold their annual 3.11 Japan Memorial Charity remembrance and fundraising event this year.
Tewassa,
a Cambridge-based volunteer group that produces "message quilts" for
schools and organizations in the Tōhoku region, will be holding a memorial event.
Public Transit & Parking
GrayMist
is accessible by the 72 and 75 buses from Harvard Square. There is free
on-street parking along Huron Ave. and neighboring streets.
Children of the Tsunami Screening & Fundraiser for Ashinaga
Children of the Tsunami (watch for free on vimeo)
Directed & written by Dan Reed
2012 | Japan | 59 mins | Documentary
On March 11th 2011 Japan was hit by the greatest tsunami in a thousand years. Through
compelling testimony from 7-10 year-old survivors, this film reveals
how the deadly wave and the Fukushima nuclear accident have changed children's lives forever. The
story unfolds at two key locations: a primary school where 74 children
were killed by the tsunami; and a school close to the Fukushima nuclear
plant, attended by children evacuated from the nuclear exclusion zone.
The Tufts Japanese Culture Club's event is a fundraiser to benefit Ashinaga, a Japan-based non-profit that provides financial, educational, and emotional support to children worldwide "who have lost one or both parents as a result of illness,
accident/disaster, or suicide, as well as children who have a parent
with a disability that prevents them from working". Since 2011, the Tufts JCC* has been very active in fundraising and educating the Tufts community on the ongoing post-3.11 challenges.
Snack Sale & Crane Folding
Stop by the Mayer Campus Center to purchase mochi, cookies and rice crackers! JCC* students will also be folding origami cranes for a senbazuru (one thousand origami cranes) which will be installed later in the Tisch Library.
From 2011 to 2013, RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI and Ko Sakai conducted a series of
interviews with residents in the Tohoku region of northern Japan, an
area heavily hit by both the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Their
research resulted in three films which have since come to be known as
the Tohoku Trilogy: The Sound of the Waves (Nami no oto 2011), Voices
from the Waves (Nami no koe 2013), and Storytellers (Utau hito, 2013).
In Voices from the Waves, residents from the region face the camera in
close-up view to deliver recollections of the earthquake and tsunami.
Centering on the rich regional folk tradition of storytelling, the film
explores the experience of discovery in the encounter between speaker
and listener. Through Hamaguchi’s lens, Voices from the Waves poignantly
showcases how a single event may live a thousand lives through the act
of telling and how different voices can render that one event into
similar yet unique pieces of storytelling. This interaction between
speaker and listener becomes an empowering and transformative process,
an affirmation of human resilience, and provides hope for recovery and a
return to normalcy in the region. (Screening time: 103 minutes,
Japanese with English subtitles)
Reischauer Institute Japan Forum special film presentation
Students from Tohoku University of Art and Design are coming to Boston Children's Museum for the fifth year to mark the anniversary of 3.11. For the third year the students will
have an art and friendship exhibit. The public is invited to attend the
exhibit opening. The exhibit is open through Monday, September 30, 2017. Children can meet the artists from Japan and engage in a
hands-on activity. See photos from 2014 (here and here)
when they had fun making monsters. The exhibit is brought to the museum
by artist Minatsu Ariga and her “ART THINKING” project team at the
university.
Exploring trains as a symbol of determination and kindness carrying HOPE to our Future!
This art exhibition “トレイン トレイン TRAIN TRAIN” invites visitors on an imaginary adventure to our future.
Trains
are not quitters. They just keep moving forward every day whether in
the rain, in the wind, against the summer heat, or against the winter
snow. Trains often remind us of the importance of hard work, patience,
tenacity, and willpower.
Trains carry many things and
people, and trains help them reach to their destinations. Trains remind
us of the importance of kindness, generosity, and compassion for all
humanities and the earth we live in.
In this art
exhibition, artists use “trains” as their storytellers and welcome us to
reflect our lives through exploring those stories. Where is your train
going? Between a station and a station, trains connect us together and
lead us to our tomorrow with hopes and dreams.... Please also tell us
your train stories. What is your train story like? Is it romantic,
dynamic, soulful, gentle...?
The artworks in this
exhibition are created by the members of the “ART THINKING” project team
at Tohoku University of Art & Design in Japan. After the
devastating earthquake and tsunami in their hometown in March 2011, they
decided to use the special power of ART to make the world a better
place and connect with many friends like you! So they bought this
exhibition to Boston as their fourth annual international friendship
making project.
Our hope is that this exhibition also brings
opportunities for the visitors to peek into today’s youth culture and
children’s experience in Japan. Visitors are encouraged to make
connections and share their own stories. Through this cross-cultural
experience in this art exhibition “トレイン トレイン TRAIN TRAIN”, we hope to
engage visitors in joyful discovery of learning and foster their
appreciation of the world.
Admission
Please see the museum's website for admission details.
Please note that "Adults unaccompanied by children must leave proper photo identification
at the Admissions Desk. Examples: State Driver’s License or Passport."
This
year is the fifth annual Cranes on the Square event organized by local
Japanese language teacher Timothy Nagaoka.
Volunteers will teach people how to fold origami cranes which
will form a temporary public art piece in Copley Square then be
collected and delivered to people in the disaster area. See photos from last year's event here.
Date & Time
Sunday, March 12, 2017
11:30am - 4:30pm
If you're aware of a 3.11 event that I haven't listed, please post
a comment with a link to the event or details if the info isn't on a
public webpage. This page will be updated if I find out about more events.
This year is the fifth anniversary of the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear disaster that happened in Japan on March 11, 2011. Although the world's attention has moved on to other disasters, some
groups in Boston continue to be involved in supporting Japan through
this crisis and educating the public. If you're interested in learning
more, please consider attending one of these events. Events are listed in chronological order.
MIT Japanese Tea Ceremony will hold their annual remembrance and fundraising event at the Sanzashi-An Tea House
on Showa Boston's campus. Each session is about 75 minutes, includes
Japanese Tea Ceremony performance with Japanese confectionery and green
tea. Children are welcome to join and babysitter available upon request.
This charity event is to commemorate the North-Eastern Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami Disaster that happened on March 11, 2011. We hope to support
the survivors to improve their living conditions, rebuild the area, and
for each of us to remember the tragedy.
The major part of the areas where struck by the earthquake
and Tsunami started to recover and rebuild little by little, but is
still suffering from the long-existing damages. Even with all the
donations and funds collected by countless organizations, groups, and
individuals from all over the world, they are still experiencing
difficulty making improvements from the destructions. With a great help
of our supporters, we hope to become a part to help Japan's retrieval of
the losses from the affects.
We believe that we learned something important from this
incident. Please do not forget what happened on March 11, 2011, and how
the struggles have been made. Take this opportunity for memorials and to
support.
"Peacefulness through a Bowl of Tea" is phrased by Sen
Genshitsu, the Great Grandmaster of Urasenke Japanese Tea Ceremony. He
has always been flying around the world to spread the Japanese Tea
Ceremony along with peacefulness; to share one bowl of tea together with
all. We, as a part of his family clan, attempt to succeed his
expression in the United States as well.
As a extent of our effort, we try our best to support Japan to come together to successfully overcome the tragedy.
Date & Time
Sunday, February 21, 2016
10am/11:30am/1pm Registration form must be received by Friday, February 19, 2016
Panelists Richard Samuels (MIT, Political Science), Tatsujiro Suzuki
(Former Vice Chairman of Japan Atomic Energy Commission of the Cabinet
Office), Kenneth Oye (MIT, Political Science & ESD), Miho Mazereeuw (MIT, Architecture) and Akinobu Murakami (University of Tsukuba) will speak on the current state of
Northeastern Japan five years after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear
meltdown. This panel is part of the Starr Forum.
Five years
have passed since the devastating events of March 11, 2011, when the
triple disaster of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear
meltdown in Fukushima hit northeastern Japan. Nearly 16,000 lives were
lost, and around 2,500 remain missing. Indeed, beyond the physical
damage, emotional grief, and the immediate humanitarian response to
these, the Great East Japan Earthquake has had an immeasurable impact on
the country’s security relations, business and economic environment,
energy policy, and domestic politics and institutions.
How has
this disaster changed Japan's political and economic spheres? What
policy-making lessons has Japan learned, and what lessons can other
countries learn from it? Within five years, has Japan returned to how it was before 3/11, or has it even improved?
The Japan Club at The Fletcher School invites you to an
interdisciplinary panel to assess reconstruction, recovery, and
resilience since 3/11. The panel will examine closely developments in
the U.S.-Japan security alliance, sustainable economic growth,
challenges in energy policy, and reactions of domestic politics and
institutions.
Opening Remarks: Fumi Tataki (MIB 2016) Moderator: Prof. Shinsuke Tanaka (Fletcher School) Panelists: Prof. Keiko Hirao (Harvard University/Sophia University) and
Yoshikazu Watanabe (Eastern Army Commanding General, Ret., Japan Ground
Self Defense Force)
Coastal Fisheries and Industrial Development in Fukushima Satsuki Takahashi, Toyota Visiting Professor, Center for Japanese Studies, Univ. of Michigan and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, George Mason University
Network Crisis Archiving: From First Response to Remembrance Kyle Parry, Postdoctoral Fellow, Visual and Cultural Studies and Digital Humanities Center, University of Rochester
Community Reconstruction in the Tohoku Region Andrew Littlejohn, PhD candidate in Social Anthropology, Harvard University
Moderator: Theodore C. Bestor, Reischauer Institute Professor of Social
Anthropology and Director, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University
"Natural and Unnatural Disasters: 3/11, Asbestos, and the Unmaking of Japan's Modern World," the talk given by Brett L. Walker on January 29th will be given again at MIT on Friday, February 19th. The talk was very interesting and Professor Walker also talked a little about his research on 9/11 as an environmental disaster.
Trees Make Happiness
This will be the fourth year that Boston Children's Museum welcomes students from Tohoku University of Art and Design to mark the anniversary of 3.11. For the second year the students will have an art and friendship exhibit. The public is invited to attend the exhibit opening. Children can meet the artists from Japan and engage in a hands-on activity. See photos from last year (here and here) when they had fun making monsters. The exhibit is brought to the museum by artist Minatsu Ariga and her “ART THINKING” project team at the university.
Enjoy the special opening event of Art Exhibition in the Japanese
House Gallery: Art as Ecology – Building the future by exploring the
trees that make happiness grow!
Meet the artists from Tohoku, Japan.
This
special art show and programs are brought to you by the members of the
“ART THINKING” project team at Tohoku University of Art & Design in
Japan. After the devastating earthquake and tsunami in their hometown in
March 2011, they decided to use the special power of ART to make the
world a better place and connect with many friends like you. Please stop
by and say hi to the student artists from Tohoku, Japan and enjoy
hands-on activities!
Admission
Please see the museum's website for admission details.
Please note that "Adults unaccompanied by children must leave proper photo identification
at the Admissions Desk. Examples: State Driver’s License or Passport."
Tewassa,
a Cambridge-based volunteer group that produces "message quilts" for
schools and organizations in the Tōhoku region, will be holding a memorial event.
"It has passed almost five years since Great East Japan Earthquake.
However, it is still important to “never forget” about the incident. On
the day, we will share information from Japan, introduce our activities,
and an activity for those attending. We will also prepare free coffee
and snacks, feel free to come and join us!"
Date & Time
Saturday, March 12, 2016
2:00 - 6:00pm
Public Transit & Parking
GrayMist
is accessible by the 72 and 75 buses from Harvard Square. There is free
on-street parking along Huron Ave. and neighboring streets.
Cranes on the Square 2015 Photo courtesy of Timothy Nagaoka
This
year is the fourth annual Cranes on the Square event organized by local
Japanese language teacher Timothy Nagaoka with support from the Boston Parks & Recreation
Department, the Japanese Consulate, and the Japan Society of Boston.
Volunteers will teach people how to fold origami cranes which
will form a temporary public art piece in Copley Square then be
collected and delivered to people in the disaster area.
Date & Time
Sunday, March 13, 2016
11:30am - 4:30pm
5th Anniversary Commemoration for Tohoku: ~ Tohoku, 5 Years After ~ :: 東北は今 ::
Date & Time
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
6:00 - 8:30pm
6:00 - 6:15pm: Registration & Opening Remarks
6:15 - 6:30pm: Keynote Speech by Mayor of Ofunato Kimiaki Toda
6:30 - 8:00pm: Speakers Presentations & Performance by TOMODACHI Suntory scholars at Berklee College of Music
Born out of the
natural disasters that devastated northeastern Japan on March 11,
2011, the FYS has quickly developed into one of Japan's finest
youth orchestras. Led by conductor Tetsuji Honna,
and featuring soloists Panos Karan (piano) and
Zach Tarpagos (flute), the FYS will perform a
program including concertos by Mozart and Rachmaninoff, as well as
orchestral works by Glinka and Barber. This concert is part of a
unique cultural exchange program, supported by the governments of
Japan and the United States, and by the Tomodachi Program's Fund
for Exchanges of the U.S.-Japan Council, in commemoration of the
fifth anniversary of the disasters of 2011.
The Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta was created by students from
four Fukushima high schools in the immediate aftermath of the
earthquakes/tsunami/nuclear disasters of 2011. Determined to aid in
the recovery of their devastated communities, the students found
solace in music. They asked pianist Panos Karan and flute virtuoso
Zach Tarpagos, two professional musicians visiting from Greece, to
help them form an orchestra. Since 2011, Karan and Tarpagos have
returned nearly twenty times to Fukushima to coach the orchestra
and have invited other international musicians from Europe, the
U.S., and India to join in working with the FYS. The orchestra has
contributed significantly to the Japanese recovery, bringing
confidence and hope to the devastated area, and it has been widely
recognized as a leading symbol of communal cohesion during the
period of rebuilding. In April 2014, the British charity Keys of
Change invited the FYS to London for a highly successful
performance at Queen Elizabeth Hall. In August 2015, the FYS made
its Tokyo debut in a major concert at Tokyo Opera City Concert
Hall, in the presence of the Empress of Japan.
Update 2/14/16: I'm sad to report that Robert Maeda, the subject of Kimi's play, Bend, passed away in January. Kimi's tour will continue as planned as a memorial to her father's life.
Japanese American theatre artist, Kimi Maeda, is bringing her one-woman show, Bend, back to New England this month. She'll have five shows in the Boston area (details below) as well as three more at Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont, Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (please see her website for details on these shows). The tour was made possible by the New England chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League through a grant from the national JACL Legacy Fund Grants Program. Kimi's tour is part of the New England JACL's commemoration of the Day of Remembrance.
I saw Kimi perform at Brandeis University last April. The show was deeply moving and the most innovative theater I had seen in a long time. It seemed like the sort of show you need to see more than once so I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
Using sand, shadow, and projection, Bend tells the story of two men
interned in a Japanese American relocation camp during World War II.
The first is Robert Maeda (puppeteer Kimi Maeda's father) an Asian Art
historian who was only a young boy when he went into the camp. The
second man would become the subject of Dr. Maeda's research: Isamu Noguchi, a half-Japanese-half-American sculptor whose work appears in a
wide range of spaces and contexts from the giant Red Cube in New York’s
Financial District to countless lamps, tables, and stone sculptures in
private homes.
Late in life, Dr. Maeda began working on a
book about Noguchi, but as dementia gradually overtook his life, his
work was never finished. His daughter, Kimi, was inspired to take on the
task he started decades ago, exploring the life of Noguchi in relation
to his (and her) own personal history. Using sand as her canvas, Kimi
skillfully transforms image after image, combining live feed projection
of these drawings with archival footage from WWII. The result is a
sublime evening of visual theater that captures the transient, elusive
quality of time and memory.
Date & Time
Friday, February 19, 2016
3:00pm
Location
UMass Boston
Snowden Auditorium, Wheatley Hall, 1st Floor, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125
Admission
Free
Date & Time
Sunday, February 21, 2016
1:00pm
Location
Tufts University Balch Arena Theater, 40 Talbot Ave., Medford, MA 02155
Admission
Free
Date & Time
Thursday, February 25, 2016
7:00pm
Location
MIT Tang Center, Bldg E51 Room 095, 2 Amherst St., Cambridge, MA 02142
Admission
Free
Date & Time
Friday, February 26, 2016
8:00pm
Saturday, February 27, 2016
8:00pm
Followed by a reception hosted by the New England JACL.
When: Through Tuesday, January 5, 2016, Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm (although I was told the building is actually open from 7am - 7pm) Location: Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South, Lower Level, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138
When: Through Saturday, November 14, 2015Extended through December 19, 2015, Monday - Saturday, noon - 5pm (they will be open on Veterans Day; closed 11/26-27 for Thanksgiving) Location: Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
You would think from the title of this post that I'm sharing a new George Takei viral video, but he's actually appearing in an interesting documentary titled Do I Sound Gay?. I know this is a bit off-topic but I'm always excited in anything George Takei does. Fellow Asian American queer, Margaret Cho, also appears in the film.
At the moment it looks like the only place the film will be screened in the Boston area is at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge beginning next Friday, July 24, 2015. Writer/Director David Thorpe will be there on July 24th and 25th, details TBA.
Is there such a thing as a “gay voice”? Why do some people “sound gay” but not others? Why are gay voices a mainstay of pop culture—but also a trigger for anti-gay harassment? After a break-up with his boyfriend, journalist David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious and touching journey of self-discovery, confronting his anxiety about “sounding gay.” Enlisting acting coaches, linguists, friends, family, total strangers and celebrities (including David Sedaris, George Takei, Dan Savage, Margaret Cho, Don Lemon and Tim Gunn), he quickly learns that many people—both gay and straight—often wish for a different voice. In Thorpe's feature-length documentary debut, what starts as a personal journey becomes a chance to unpack layers of cultural baggage concerning sexuality, identity and self-esteem.
I keep forgetting to post an update on this. I stopped by the main store in Brookline a few weeks ago and asked if the Porter location had closed permanently. The woman who was working said, "I think so." Last week I was at the Porter Exchange and their space was completely cleaned out. I'm really sad that they've closed but I imagine they've struggled since Kotobukiya (the Japanese grocery store) closed in 2009. They closed their Packard's Corner location two summers ago. Since then equipment breakage has seen their offerings shrink (first it was their deep fryer resulting in no more curry donuts or cake donuts and then equipment related to bread-making.)
I hope that downsizing will allow them to survive but if they're not able to get new equipment I don't know if they'll be able to get by selling only cakes and pastries. There was no bread the last time I went to their Brookline location. They were the only source of freshly made Japanese breads in the Boston area. Ebisuya has Japanese bread trucked up from Parisienne Bakery in New Jersey.
I just stumbled across this article in The Asahi Shimbun about Cambridge-based Union for Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization that is asking people to send a letter to President Obama urging him to visit Japan in early August for the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. As far as I can tell from a quick Google News search this hasn't been picked up by the US media at all.
When JREX and Tewassa screened Hideki Ito's X Years Later in 2013 they showed an extremely unnerving animated short by Isao Hashimoto titled "1945-1998" which showed nearly all of the nuclear detonations worldwide during that time period (according to this YouTube user, the animation is missing a few). The final US count:
1,032 (317 more than the next highest count - Russia at 715).
Update 7/10/15: I have confirmed that the Porter Square location is permanently closed. Their Brookline location is still open.
I was in the Porter Exchange last night so stopped by to see what was going on at the Japonaise Bakery. There was a sign in the window saying they are temporarily closed but things don't look promising for reopening any time soon. They've removed all their non-baked goods products, refrigerators, and display cases.
There's a lot of origami on display at MIT right now that you should check out if you have a chance. The most stunning is Collier's Cranes, which started out as a hack last year to honor Officer Sean Collier on the one year anniversary of his death. I asked around and found out that MIT liked it so much they decided to leave it up indefinitely. The cranes are installed in the Stata Center (Building 32) in the lobby at the corner of Vassar and Main Streets near the site of his permanent memorial which will be dedicated later this month. (More photos.)
OrigaMIT (MIT's origami club) has a temporary installation of a Menger Sponge on the other side of the building. It is one face of a level 3 Menger Sponge and was made using 25,000 business cards! I contributed a very small piece of the model. The MIT Menger Sponge was made as part of the MegaMenger project. This video shows how it's made. It is located in the Dreyfoos Tower elevator lobby next to a bank of pay phones. I'm told it will be there until some time in May.
The 14th Annual Student OrigaMIT Competition is on display on the other side of campus in the Wiesner Student Art Gallery on the second floor of the Stratton Student Center (Building W20). The club is open to the public and meets most Sundays during the school year from 3-5pm. Check the calendar on their website to find out when the next meeting is. The exhibit will be up until some time next month. (More photos.)
Hanging Cranes by Lily Zhou '17 inspired by the Collier's Cranes installation won first place in the Composition category.
Star Festival, designed by Nobuko Okabe, folded by OrigaMIT co-president, Yongquan Lu. YQ taught this model at OrigaMIT's 2014 Convention in November.
Update 7/10/15: I have confirmed that the Porter Square location is permanently closed. Their Brookline location is still open.
I tried to stop by Japonaise Bakery in Porter yesterday when they should have been open but was greeted by steel doors. I called the main store in Brookline today and was told that Porter was closed due to equipment issues. I asked if the closure was permanent and was told she hadn't decided yet. I told her that would be too bad. It wouldn't surprise me if they close permanently since they never have very many customers. It would be a real shame. Japonaise has been in the Porter Exchange for as long as I remember but it seems like they've struggled for business since moving to this less visible location (they used to have a kiosk in the main hallway outside Bluefin). I'm sure that Kotobukiya's closure has hurt them as well.
In the mean time if you want azuki creams or shoku pan you will have to head over to their St. Mary's location.
Update 3/19/15: Stopped by the Brookline location today and found out that the equipment that broke is used to make their bread so they had no bread or bread pastries (other than bread pudding), just cakes, flan, a lone tray of almond croissants, and a few onigiri. It seems they are also struggling with being understaffed. They are hiring for all positions.
Update 3/20/15: Went back to the Brookline location today and they had azuki & ichigo creams (yay!) along with a few other pastries but still no bread and no word on when the equipment would be fixed.
If you're aware of a 3.11 event that I haven't listed, please post
a comment with a link to the event or details if the info isn't on a
public webpage. This page will be updated if I find out about more events.
March 11, 2015 will be the fourth anniversary of the historic triple disaster that Japan experienced in Tōhoku on March 11, 2011. Although the world's attention has moved on to other disasters, some
groups in Boston continue to be involved in supporting Japan through
this crisis and educating the public. If you're interested in learning
more, please consider attending one of these events. Events are listed in chronological order.
This remarkable documentary offers a glimpse into the life of Taylor
Anderson (JET Program, Miyagi prefecture, 2008-11), a young American
woman who dedicated herself to teaching Japanese children, through
in-depth personal accounts from her loved ones. Laced with emotional
recollections, moving photographs and home movies which are as many bits
of the wonderful puzzle that was her incredible existence, the film
walks the viewer through Taylor's 24 years on earth and untimely end
caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. In light
of the tragedy, the film sends a message of hope for all to follow their
hearts. [90 minutes. USA, 2012. BD.]
Regge Life has been making
groundbreaking films for over two decades including the acclaimed
Doubles: Japan and America’s Intercultural Children , and most recently
Reason to Hope, which chronicles the events surrounding the 2010 Haiti
earthquake.
Date & Time
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
6:00pm - 8:00 pm
Location
Harvard University
CGIS South Bldg., 1730 Cambridge St., Tsai Auditorium S010, Cambridge, MA 02138
MIT Japanese Tea Ceremony will hold their annual remembrance and fundraising event at the Sanzashi-An Tea House
on Showa Boston's campus. Each session is about 45 minutes, includes
Japanese Tea Ceremony performance with Japanese confectionery and green
tea. Children are welcome to join and babysitter available upon request.
Date & Time
Sunday, March 8, 2015
10am/11am/12pm/1pm/2pm
RSVP by Thursday, March 5, 2015
This
year is the third annual Cranes on the Square event organized by local
teacher Tim Nagaoka with support from the Boston Parks & Recreation
Department, the Japanese Consulate, and the Japan Society of Boston. Volunteers will teach people how to fold origami cranes which
will form a temporary public art piece in Copley Square then be
collected and delivered to people in the disaster area.
Survival rates and recovery rates from the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami have varied tremendously across the coastal towns in Japan's Tohoku area. A few villages and towns have rebuilt all of their schools, repopulated homes, and reestablished businesses and infrastructure, while others struggle to do so.
Using quantitative data, Professor Daniel Aldrich of Purdue University will illuminate the factors responsible for these outcomes in a lecture, followed by a reception with light snacks.
Date & Time
Monday, March 9, 2015
8:30pm
Location
Tufts University, Olin Center, 180 Packard Ave., Room 012, Medford, MA 02155
Harvard has been doing a great job of hosting
talks year-round about the problems Japan is still facing after 3.11.
Talks are open to the public, though inconveniently scheduled for people
with 9-5 jobs. Some of the talks are posted on the Program on
U.S.-Japan Relations Vimeo page.
Meditation for Fukushima
Tewassa, a Cambridge-based volunteer group that produces "message quilts" for schools and organizations in the Tōhoku region, will be holding a memorial event.
"Updates from Tohoku, a journey to new life," is a commemoration of the fourth anniversary of 3.11, the disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011 in the northeastern region of Japan and affected nearly 500,000 people, including 20,000 deaths and missing.
Hosted by the Consulate-General of Japan in Boston, Berklee College of Music, Fish Family Foundation, Japan Society of Boston, and the U.S.-Japan Council/TOMODACHI Initiative, the event will be held from 6pm to 8pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at Berklee College of Music.
With the purpose to not let Tohoku be forgotten, the event will celebrate the friendship between Boston and Tohoku, and showcase individuals and projects working on the disaster ground, including Shun Kanda of the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative, Anne Nishimura Morse of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Megumi Ishimoto of Women's Eyes. Two Berklee students, recipients of the TOMODACHI - Suntory scholarship program, will also perform short pieces as tributes to Tohoku.
Tewassa,
a Cambridge-based volunteer group that produces "message quilts" for
schools and organizations in the Tōhoku region, will be holding their annual memorial event. 
