NTTdocomo funds Visualizing Iriya project

Posted on 9 April 2013 by admin

Visualizing Iriya:「生きてくる入谷物語」

NTTdocomo タブレットを活用した被災地復興プロジェクト
a joint project with NTTdocomo & MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative 入谷の人に、会いに行こう。

南三陸町の入谷という土地が元来もつ性質、及び歴史的な価値を、地域の生活空間や自然空間等の、緑地、または自然環境と構造物の総体としての環境を認識し、失われつつある地域独特の生活文化を呼び起こす。入谷の中で、時間を過ごし、場を感じとり、地元の人と出会う。口から口へと伝えられてきたこの土地にまつわる伝承、民話に関してヒアリングする。ひとつの土地にまつわる話しはひとつと限らない。尋ねる人、場所によって変化される幾つもの話しを、できる限り集めることを目指す。

タブレットを用いたフィールドワークはこの「尋ね歩き」のプロセスそのものが震災復興活動の主要な

部分であり、尋ね歩くよそ者との交流そのものこそが、縮小しつつあるまちに暮らす地元の方1人1人の活気を起こす。プロジェクトの仮定、引いていは実用化時点での、本プロジェクトの地元に対する貢献の成果として、今後長く役立のではないかと思う。

上で得られるアウトプットに合わせて、タブレットというデジタルデバイスを利用し、訪問者の入谷体験にどのような面白みを提供できるか。入谷を訪れた人々を、ファンとならしめ、再び訪れる理由を起こすものは何か。

タブレットというポータブルデバイスだからこそ、情報を提供する地元側と受ける側との個別、Face to Face の出会いの機会を作ることが可能ではないか。受け入れられる範囲での人の現在地のマッピング、訪問者がそうした語り部を担う地元の人を、訪れられるシステムつくりを提案する。その他にも、タブレット利用の可能性として、QR コード等の利用による現地に足を運ばなければ得られない情報の提供、過去の体験談や地域住民の体験談のデータベース化、GPS システムと連動した人々の現在地情報の提供等、また、Twitter や Facebook と連動した、訪問後のユーザーの体験のシェアシステムを想定する。

以上を、復興支援活動に端を発し、実用化に向ける本プロジェクトの地元へ還元されうる効果とする。人と人を結ぶ尋ね歩きのスタイルを可能にすることで、入谷の人を元気にできる。

Visualizing Iriya
Based on a map depicted entirely in text the original names of places in the mountain valley village of Iriya, Minamisanriku, this project will bring to life its unique historical relationships to past folklore including past tsunamis. Iriya lies at the foot of Tatsugane-yama (El.512m) inland from Shizugawa Bay and occupies an important place both in morphological and ethnological evolution within the greater Tohoku history. Much of this information has been lost however to the present generation of residents. The goals of this project is to utilize digital mapping techniques and the use of NTTdocomo tablet devices in the hands of local people to enliven its power of place amidst the gloom in the aftermath of 3.11.

MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative Team member Eric, in Minamisanriku, uses an NTT docomo Tablet to aid in their field work.

Taking notes and documentation with the tablet during a group meeting

MIT team members meet with local Japanese students in Iriya.

The MIT team spends some quality time with villagers in Iriya.

MIT Architecture graduate student Tyler with the NTT docomo Tablet back on campus.

Commemorating the 2nd anniversary of 3.11

Posted on 17 March 2013 by admin

To commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the Japan 3/11 Initiative team designed and installed a 20 meter high banner in the MIT Media Lab building lobby (Building E14). The banner visualizes the average height of the tsunami waves as they hit land in the Minami Sanriku area. The banner continues to the 5th floor, where both there and on the first floor passersby could read more.

Photos by J. Ira Winder

MIT News / Japan after the disaster

Posted on 16 March 2013 by admin

“When we talk about crises, they are instruments, or tools. [...] They’re not independently transformative. They’re tools in the service of people with preferences, and those preferences are remarkably sticky.”

Richard Samuels, in a recent article published in MIT News on Japanese politics and policy since the triple disaster in 2011

Event at MIT: BEYOND 3.11 on Thursday 3/14 at 6pm

Posted on 5 March 2013 by admin

Please join MIT graduate and undergraduate students and the Japanese Society of Undergraduates (JSU) for a talk and reception at MIT to hear updates from Tohoku as we observe the 2nd anniversary of the 2010 earthquake and tsunami.

When: 6:00 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Where: MIT Student Center Room 407 (Building W20)
Open to the general public
RSVP: Link (http://goo.gl/DeTUJ) or Facebook page
(Space is limited, so please RSVP)

Speakers:

Richard J. Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science; Director of the Center for International Studies, MIT
Shun Kanda, Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture; Director, MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative
Mio Yamamoto, Co-Founder and Director of World in Asia; Class of 2013, MIT Sloan School of Management

Topics:
“Using 3.11 for Policy Change” by Richard J. Samuels

Japanese political entrepreneurs used the catastrophe in Tohoku to nudge national policy in their preferred direction by constructing narratives and assigning blame for 3.11. Battles among competing perspectives on change and contested appeals to leadership, community, and risk have defined post-3.11 politics and public policy in Japan, particularly in the areas of national security, energy policy, and local governance.

“BEYOND 3.11″ by Shun Kanda

3 INSIGHTs_Toward Disaster-Resilient & Sustainable Futures for Minamisanriku; a report on the on-going work by the US and Japan-based MIT 3.11 Initiative team as we apprise our assistance continuing into the third year of recovery in Tohoku.

“Social Innovation from Tohoku” by Mio Yamamoto

How social entrepreneurs are addressing pressing social problems such as education, job creation, healthcare in Touhoku in collaboration with the private and public sectors.

For more information, contact: Mio Yamamoto, mioy AT mit DOT edu

Shun Kanda speaks at Nikkei BP Smart City Week 21 Symposium

Posted on 30 November 2012 by admin

Shun Kanda, MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative Director, delivered a talk at the Nikkei BP Smart City Week 21 Symposium in Yokohama, Japan on October 30th, 2012.

For more information:

http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/scw/2012/conference/international/k1.shtml

Initiative featured in MIT’s PLAN 81

Posted on 30 July 2012 by admin

The Initiative’s efforts in creating disaster resiliency was the main feature in the latest edition of MIT School of Architecture + Planning‘s newsletter publication, PLAN 81. The story showcases our work from last summer’s workshop to the present in response to the “urgent need for community centers to facilitate social interaction and serve as a symbol for the town’s resurgence of hope.”

Early warning signals in ancient stones

Posted on 8 July 2012 by admin

“How successful are you in actually getting the displaced to (discuss?) relocate(ing) their rebuilding efforts higher?” is the question posed to us by friend of the Initiative, Ken Diener. Another question in a similar vein is, “What types of warnings would it take to convince people to move to safer ground,” locations safe from the known historic hazards of tsunamis?

The excerpted article below — originally published in CBS news on April 6th, 2011 — showcases the 600-year old stone markers that have long warned of tsunamis:

Ancient stone markers warned of tsunamis

centuries-old tablet warns of danger of tsunamis

In this March 31, 2011 photo, a tsunami survivor walks past a centuries-old tablet that warns of danger of tsunamis in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan. (AP)

MIYAKO, Japan – Modern sea walls failed to protect coastal towns from Japan’s destructive tsunami last month. But in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, a single centuries-old tablet saved the day.

“High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants,” the stone slab reads. “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.”

It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying communities elsewhere and killed thousands along Japan’s northeastern shore.

Hundreds of such markers dot the coastline, some more than 600 years old. Collectively they form a crude warning system for Japan, whose long coasts along major fault lines have made it a repeated target of earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries.

The markers don’t all indicate where it’s safe to build. Some simply stand — or stood, washed away by the tsunami — as daily reminders of the risk. “If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis,” reads one. In the bustle of modern life, many forgot.

More than 12,000 have been confirmed dead and officials fear the death toll could rise to 25,000 from the March 11 disaster. More than 100,000 are still sheltering in schools and other buildings, almost a month later. A few lucky individuals may move into the first completed units of temporary housing this weekend.