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

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 

‘Power of People’ looks to Minami-Sanriku’s future

Shun Kanda recently gave a lecture at MIT to a group of students from Tohoku entitled “Power of Place, of People, as One.”  He showcased the recently completed Garden Pavilione in Baba-Nakayama and the community-driven initiatives that have developed in the wake of 3/11.  Also featured were creative ideas and new typologies for the future of coastal towns in Tohoku as they move to higher ground.

The students are all survivors of the 3/11 disaster who have joined the non-profit organization, Beyond Tomorrow.  They are visiting the US to obtain first-hand accounts from leaders in New Orleans, New York, and Washington D.C.  Their Boston visit was sponsored by the Fish Family Foundation.

A similar lecture was also given at University of Tokyo on July 29th, at the start of the Japan 3/11 Design Workshop.

Video from the MIT Media Lab Symposium ‘Japan Under Reconstruction’ Now Online

The video from Professor Shun Kanda’s presentation at the MIT Media Lab’s ‘Japan Under Reconstruction’ symposium on April 7th, 2012, is now available to view online.  Kanda spoke at the Symposium, along with Joi Ito, Hirosih Ishii, and Kent Larson from the MIT Media Lab, along with Hirotaka Takeuchi from the Harvard Business School.

Fall 2011 MIT ACT lecture now online

We now have the opportunity to view online Shun Kanda and Jim Wescoat’s November lecture on the Japan 3/11 Initiative and the “Beauty of Place” in the reconstruction process.

The professors had spoken as part of the Fall 2011 “Zones of Emergency” lecture series, hosted by the MIT Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) Program.

Wescoat and Kanda on the “Beauty of Place”

Professors Shun Kanda and James Wescoat talked about their intervention in the tsunami hardest hit town of Minami-Sanriku in Japan. An intervention, MIT Japan 3/11, was created right after the disastrous tsunami that hit Japan in March this year. The images of the damage formed the collage of our news images for many days and many posts on Facebook read, ‘God Save Japan’. The presentation titled, “Beauty of Place: An Overnight Tragedy” described how overwhelming the task was. MIT collaborated with two universities in Japan, Miyagi University and Keio University. Continue reading

Exciting “seed” of a new project in Utatsu

// in English //

Utatsu, The Heisei no Mori, “Babadoru 5-chome ladies”

What happened yesterday was a sort of “breakthrough” in the search for a site, the residents’ affirmed “need” for a gathering place OUTSIDE their individual temporary units, and what we were looking for to start off our project

You will see that several people (in this case, 50-ish ladies who are neighbors) sitting around a bench can ignite a revolution.  It is a seed that can blossom into a domino effect, we hope, of more to come and eventually the larger Community Center for diverse age groups to be built. Continue reading

Event // Profs. Wescoat + Kanda in Fall ACT lecture series

Mark your calendars!  Professors James Wescoat and Shun Kanda will be speaking on November 14th at MIT about the Japan 3/11 Initiative in the Institute’s Art, Culture, and Technology fall lecture series entitled “Zones of Emergency: Artistic Interventions – Creative Responses to Conflict & Crisis.”  Collaborator Jegen Vincent de Paul will act as respondent.

Continue reading