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.
3.11 Japan Memorial Charity 2016: Remembrance of Earthquake and Tsunami
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
Location
Showa Boston, Sanzashi-An Tea House 420 Pond St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Admission
Free admission, with suggested donation from $20
*Donations without participation in Ceremony or at the door is also appreciated
All Proceeds from this event with be donated to Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, Japan Society of New York to support reconstruction of the disaster.
3/11: Five Years After the Triple Disaster in Northeastern Japan
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.
Sponsored by the MIT-Japan Program and the MIT Center for International Studies.
Update 3/10/16: Video will be available on the CIS website in 5 days.
Date & Time
Thursday, March 10, 2016
5:30 - 7:30pm
Location
MIT
Stata Center, 32 Vassar St., 32-123, Cambridge, MA 02139
3/11 Five Years After: Recovery and Resilience
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)
Date & Time
Friday, March 11, 2016
12:30 - 2:00pm
Location
The Fletcher School at Tufts University
160 Packard Ave., Cabot 206, Medford, MA 02155
Panel: Five Years Later: Research and Fieldwork Borne from the March 2011 Disasters in Japan
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
This panel is part of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies Forum and the Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations Special Series on Post-Disaster Japan.
Date & Time
Friday, March 11, 2016
4:00 - 5:45pm
Location
Harvard University
Belfer Case Study Room S020, Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South Bldg., 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard has been doing a great job of hosting talks year-round about the problems Japan is still facing after 3.11 as part of their Reischauer Institute Japan Forum and Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations Special Series on Post-Disaster Japan. There are other talks scheduled from February to April. Talks are open to the public, though inconveniently scheduled for people with 9-5 jobs. Some past talks are archived on the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations Vimeo page.
"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!
Date & Time
Friday, March 11, 2016
6:00 - 8:00pm
Saturday, March 12, 2016
12:00 - 3:00pm
Location
Boston Children's Museum, The Common and Japanese House Gallery
308 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210
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."
3.11 Memorial Event
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
Location
GrayMist Studio & Shop
364 Huron Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
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.
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| Cranes on the Square 2015 Photo courtesy of Timothy Nagaoka |
Cranes on the Square
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
Location
Copley Square, Boston, MA 02116
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
Speakers:
- Laura Winthrop Abbot, Senior Vice President, U.S.-Japan Council, former Executive Director, TOMODACHI Initiative
- Ken Buesseler, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University
Location
Christian Science Center, Reflection Hall
235 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115
Admission
Free - tickets must be reserved
The Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta at Symphony Hall ~ American Debut
The Japan Society of Boston is soliciting donors to help fund the Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta's Boston trip. Please see their website for details. You can also donate to the trip on Kickstarter. Rewards start at £10 ($14).
This performance is a collaboration between The Japan Society of Boston, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Keys of Change, the U.S.-Japan Council's TOMODACHI Fund for Exchanges, the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo, and the Consulate General of Japan in Boston.
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.
Date & Time
Sunday, April 3, 2016
8:00pm
Location
Boston Symphony Hall
301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
Admission
Tickets: $10, $25, $40 (+ fees) available on the BSO website
