The Itako Team’s Visit to Hinode Junior High School

September 25, 2012

The goal of this visit to Hinode Junior High School is to plan and promote the School Festival Ornament Project. The gymnasium is to be the main event hall of the festival; the bazaar, food corner and flow paths (such as hallways and hatches) are to be taken into consideration as well. The pupils’ association and art department gathered in the meeting room after school to hear our proposals and offer their input regarding the festival’s overall objective. Hereafter, we will exchange ideas and mobilize to put a definitive plan into action.

In order to support the recovery, it is especially necessary to understand and consider the feelings of the afflicted persons of the area. Presently, we must also recognize that limitations exist as far as time and distance are concerned. We hope that this project will be the first step in building new relationships with local residents, including the teachers, their pupils as well as the parental guardians. (Kamiura)


Continue reading

会津・喜多方リサーチ ④

会津若松市内の城北仮設住宅。筑波大学のOBで、喜多方市で活動されている金親さんと一緒に伺う。金親さんは、筑波大学の安藤先生とともに仮設住宅の設計に関わった。地域の木材を使用した木造建築は、仮設住宅としての任務が終わった後も移築して使用することができる。金親さんのご紹介から、城北仮設住宅でお話をうかがう機会を得た。(宮原)


Report on the Art Project in collaboration with the Ishigenishi Junior High School, Joso City

Report on the Art Project in collaboration with the Ishigenishi Junior High School
We are pursuing our art project in conjunction with the Ishigenishi Junior High School. The school itself was bulldozed following the disaster and now operates out of a prefab building. As one aspect of this project, we headed to the Ishigenishi School during the summer holidays in order to organize a workshop on plastic arts. The report is as follows:
Thursday July 26th, 2012
8:30 – 16:30
Location: Joso Municipal Ishigenishi Junior High School, Prefab school, Art classroom
Participants: 26 students of the Ishigenishi School, Art department / 1 art teacher
10 students of the University of Tsukuba, Art department / 2 professors

Project Details:
(1) Creation of artworks by encapsulating in resin small objects found in the old school building
(2) Fabrication of wall-mounted magnets reusing hooks from the hallway of the old school building
We think the pupils were happy. The workshop went smoothly because we planned out the process and prepared the materials and tools ahead of time. We benefited from the help of the students of University of Tsukuba starting from the preparation stage, but on the day of the workshop, they got along very well with the pupils and really did a good job. The creations will be exhibited for the University of Tsukuba School Festival (October 6th to 8th) and for the Ishigenishi School festival (October 27th). (Sasamoto)

Continue reading

Research on Hojo, Tsukuba City

The team in charge of the Hojo area began their fieldwork.

Their unit discussed architecture and design with Pr. Ando, who has been working on construction projects in Hojo. They also interviewed local representatives about the history of Hojo and the tornado’s impact.

After examining warehouses that were damaged by the earthquake and tornado the group was able to analyze the actions taken in the aftermath and hear about how they plan on continuing their efforts.

Thanks to this investigation the researchers were made aware of the true hopes and fears of disaster victims. Based on these experiences the Hojo team will review options regarding proper disaster response procedures in the affected areas. (Kataoka)

Continue reading

Hinode Junior High School Meeting

October 17, 2012

The members in charge of the Itako area convened at the university to hold a debriefing session on the situation in the Hinode district and exchanged opinions about the investigation. On October 24th, the team traveled there to have a meeting with the faculty of the junior high school. It was an occasion to discuss the concrete objectives of collaboration between the school and the university as well as to update everyone on the real condition of the area. This meeting proved to be the origin of a deep reflection on the attainable goals of the project.

We also took a look at the surrounding environs of Hinode. Here and there, construction was taking place to repair damages from the liquefaction phenomenon — however, it seemed to us that there is still a great amount of time and progress before the area would return to the way it appeared prior to the disaster. (Kamiura)

Continue reading

Research in Iwaki

The area research team organized an onsite observation tour from August 21st through 23rd, during which they inspected the damages and assessed the progress of the recovery in Iwaki. We heard accounts of disaster experiences and got a first-hand look at the current condition of the city. We met with local artists and other creative minds to hear to their post-earthquake activities.
On the last day, each member chose a theme, formulated plans of coverage and spread out in the city. Following our investigations, members reported back to the group to share the information retrieved. We were all able to interact and empathize with residents on an intimate level. Previously our only source was the media, but this tour allowed us to fully realize the situation in Iwaki through hands-on fieldwork.

Continue reading

Public viewing to cheer for Kazunari Watanabe!

There are presently about 50 households (mainly from Futaba in the Fukushima prefecture) that have been evacuated to Namiki, Tsukuba city. In this context, we are delighted to hear that Kazunari Watanabe, native of Futaba, will attend the London Olympics to compete in the cycle race. Since the people of Futuba have been domestically displaced, we would like to encourage the whole city of Tsukuba to cheer for Kazunari Watanabe! A public screening of the taped broadcast of Kazunari Watanabe’s Olympic cycling event will be shown. The viewing will also be an occasion for a workshop called “Power generation! Miniature cycle race”, so let’s cheer for Kazunari Watanabe while having fun! (Kataoka)