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Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien

Recent Event

VSJF Annual Conference 2021: Continuity and Change 10 years after 3.11 (March 19, 2021)

Joint Book Exhibition

“10 Years after 3.11” (flyer): Joint exhibition of books from the collections of the libraries of the International House of Japan, Maison franco-japonaise, and the German Institute for Japanese Studies (March 1-31, 2021; DIJ only: until April 30)

© Maison franco-japonaise

10 Years After 3.11 - A Collection of DIJ Research on the 'Triple Disaster'

March 22, 2021

The Great East Japan Earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011 with a magnitude of 9.0. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan. Because it also caused a powerful tsunami and nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the earthquake and its aftermath are usually referred to as the ‘triple disaster’. It resulted in more than 22000 people missing or dead, more than 6000 injured, and more than 200000 people displaced from their homes.

To contribute to the understanding of the social, economic, and political effects of the ‘triple disaster’, the DIJ initiated the new research focus “Great East Japan Earthquake” in the summer of 2011. This research focus included projects on cultural representations of ‘Fukushima’, the debate on nuclear energy policy, and volunteering in Tōhoku and was completed in 2014. During the past years, the foci of research have shifted to new projects but the DIJ and many of its researchers have continued to undertake research related to the consequences of the disaster. This collection provides an overview of recent publications and activities by the institute and its researchers on the lasting impact of 3.11 on different aspects of Japanese society.

Current projects by DIJ researchers

Listening to the Community: Grassroots Mental Healthcare in Local Communities (Isaac Gagné)

Local Issues Take Stage – Culture and Community Revitalization (Barbara Geilhorn)

Social movements and gender in post-3.11 Japan (Barbara Holthus)


Recent publications by DIJ researchers

Barbara Geilhorn, “Genjitsu wo henyō saseru fikushon. Okada Toshiki no engeki kara kore kara no nihon shakai wo yomitoku”, Sekai bungaku toshite no shinsaigo bungaku, eds. Kimura Saeko and Anne Bayard-Sakai, Akashi shoin 2021, 97-118.

Barbara Holthus, Gendered social movements in post-3.11 Japan: A survey report (DIJ Working Paper, 2021)

Barbara Holthus, “Demo sanka ni meguru jendā gyappu”, 3.11go no shakai undō: 8mannin no dēta kara wakatta koto, ed. Naoto Higuchi and Mitsuru Matsutani, Chikumashobo 2020, 121-143.

Isaac Gagné, “Dislocation, Social Isolation, and the Politics of Recovery in Post-Disaster Japan”, Transcultural Psychiatry 57(5), 2020, 710-723.

Isaac Gagné, “Tokyo 2020 from the regional sidelines”, Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics, ed. by Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter, Franz Waldenberger, London: Routledge 2020, 118-123.

Barbara Geilhorn, “A Multifaceted Fukushima—Trauma and Memory in Ōnobu Pelican’s Kiruannya and U-ko”, Japan Focus, 1-2019.

Barbara Geilhorn & Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt (eds.), Fukushima and the Arts: Negotiating Nuclear Disaster. London: Routledge 2018.

Recent publications by DIJ alumni

Florian Coulmas, 3.11 From one Disaster to another: Japan’s Earthquake (Storicamente, Vol. 17, No. 1), 2021.

Yosuke Buchmeier, “Towards a Conceptualization and Operationalization of Agenda-Cutting: A Research Agenda for a Neglected Media Phenomenon”, Journalism Studies 21-14, 2020, 2007-2024.

Anna Wiemann, Networks and Mobilization Processes: The Case of the Japanese Anti-Nuclear Movement after Fukushima. Munich: Iudicium 2018 (DIJ Monograph Series).

Recent publication in DIJ series

Julius Weitzdörfer and S.J. Beard, Double Debt Disaster. Law, Policy, and Social Justice in the wake of Japan’s 2011 Tsunami. Tokyo 2021 (DIJ Miscellanea, Vol. 22).

Recent articles in Contemporary Japan

Tobias Weiss, “Uniformity or polarization? The nuclear power debate in Japanese newspapers and political coalitions, 1973–2014”, Vol. 33-1 (2021).

Anna Wiemann, “Smartphones versus NHK? Mobilization strategies of the Japanese anti-nuclear movement under Abe’s restrictive media policy”, Vol. 32-1 (2020).

Hidenori Nakamura, “Six years after: ‘Fukushima memories’ and continued willingness to participate in energy and environmental policy-making process in Japan”, Vol. 31-1 (2019).

Pilvi Posio, “Reconstruction machizukuri and negotiating safety in post-3.11 community recovery in Yamamoto”, Vol. 31-1 (2019).

Takayoshi Yamamura, “Pop culture contents and historical heritage: The case of heritage revitalization through ‘contents tourism’ in Shiroishi city”, Vol. 30-2 (2018).

Florian Meissner, “Voices from the disaster area: local and regional media in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures after ‘3.11’”, Vol. 30-1 (2018).

Hiroki Kawamura, “The relation between law and technology in Japan: liability for technology-related mass damage in the cases of Minamata disease, asbestos, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster”, Vol. 30-1 (2018).