WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly

On March 11, 2011, a large area in northeastern Japan was turned into ruin by a devastating earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, and the resulting tsunami. A nuclear crisis followed with leaks in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Shocking to many of us in Japan, the nuclear disaster was largely due to a man-made error—the failure of the emergency cooling system suggested that the maintenance work was improperly done. The Japanese people were told lies. We were told that alternative ways of generating power did not exist in Japan, and that the possibility of a nuclear disaster was virtually nonexistent. The realization that as Japanese citizens we were complicit in making this nuclear disaster happen, at least to some extent, either by our ignorance, obedience, laziness, or complacency, was horrifying. Japan was the victim of the earthquake and tsunami, but Japan is also the victimizer, contaminating the earth with radioactive materials since 3/11. We, a small group of artists and scholars, are part of that Japan. Such a severe realization is debilitating to us, and why we chose to reflect on those disasters here.

I invited artists to participate by offering their artistic responses to 3/11. It was important to me that these responses be artistic reflections and not documentaries.

Six works by eight artists follow. Asumiko Nakamura's drawing and Yûri Eda's poetic text together explore the cosmic mysteries. Popular manga artist and novelist respectively, they collaborated on this piece especially for WSQ. Hiroki Iwasa creates a touching landscape with toilet [End Page 318] paper rolls and a found plastic umbrella. This is the first time his visual work appears in print. Akira the Hustler tries to humanize the numbers. One cannot help but imagine the smiling faces on the surfaces of the stuck photographs. Ebine Yamaji does not give up with her pursuit of the sorrow-free future for her tragic heroine. Tomoko Fukushi shuffles art history with cheap readymade objects such as magnets and white board. A collaborative effort between visual and performing artist BuBu de la Madeleine and urban sociologist Sohei Yamada introduces us to their Water Map project, addressing both the human body and the earth. As diverse as the six works are, they all touch on the humanity of living creatures and the social system in relation to one another. Thus my title, "In Flux." I hope this project will generate reflections on the complex problems proposed by the disaster in as open a way as possible. [End Page 319]