Japan's March 2011 Disaster and Moral Grit by Brannigan Michael C.;

Author:Brannigan, Michael C.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Bunzo’s rapeseed festival reminds us of that secret. For the people of Tohoku, Miyazawa has become their literary voice of hope after the disaster. His works have inspired the people of Tohoku to brave the tragedy and move on with promise for the future. In the same way, Bunzo’s flowers plants seeds of hope in survivors’ hearts.

Along these lines, but with a different intention, there is a farmer in Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture, just over thirty kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Daiichi nuclear plant, who decided to remain in Iitate even though it is now mostly abandoned after villagers were told to leave due to radiation. Nobuyoshi Ito questions the legitimacy of official radiation levels in the area, arguing that it is not as unsafe as authorities claim. He is there to prove his point, even though he is officially registered at a shelter in Fukushima City. He only goes to the shelter to collect mail and spends his days caring for his small farm of vegetables, eggplants, rice, and potatoes, not for consumption but to test radiation safety levels.[5] Furthermore, Nobuyoshi intends to plant thousands of acres of sunflowers. Nobuyoshi hopes that his sunflowers may help soak in radiation, though he has little confidence that they do. As to claims that sunflowers may soak up radioactive cesium, whether or not sunflowers can effectively absorb radiation is arguable. More importantly, however, for Ito, like Bunzo, he hopes that his flowers will offer beauty and the promise of rebirth in what is now a barren landscape.[6] Nobuyoshi’s message is similar to Bunzo’s. The victims’ spirits live on in survivors’ hearts and in Nature, and the region will live on in stronger bonds of community that cannot be broken.

Beyond any doubt, Bunzo’s rapeseed project inspires hope, kibō, among many survivors. This link between hope and having a project, aiming towards a future of growth, is underscored by Genda Yūji, founder of “hope studies,” kibōgaku, at Tokyo University. He traveled with Uno Shigeki to Kamaishi.[7] Genda brought with him calendars. Calendars represent the inseparable relation between time and hope. The September 2011 protests in Tokyo echo this calendar motif with the ongoing slogan, “Save our children,” Kodomo mamorō, that is, “Save our future, for hope resides in our children.” Children embody the future. There needs to be a future project, like planting flowers for their blossoming. One must have a future project in order to situate oneself a step ahead. Envisioning oneself in the future becomes the ground for acting and living fully in the present. In the aftermath of calamity and crisis, the future project becomes the ground for the present, not the reverse. I well remember our dad’s small calendar hung over his tiny kitchen table was filled with events, arrivals, departures, doctors’ appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, and so forth. Like us, calendars are inherently future-oriented, and for Dad, they kept him moving and alive each day, especially after Mom’s passing. Hence, a bold awareness of aida in time, of our

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