We’re looking for personal memoirs or accounts portraying things and events related to the Great East Japan Earthquake which you cannot forget, do not want to forget, or want to remember. If you have personal experience of the disaster, or if you feel somewhat distanced from it, why not put down your thoughts and feelings in writing?
Nearly ten years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Some people still vividly remember that day; some cannot remember it even if they want to; some don’t want to remember and have shut away their memories; and some are able to remember but find it hard to express their feelings about it.
During the ten years up until now, people who directly experienced the disaster as well as those who feel they didn’t have probably experienced thinking about or feeling distressed about how to distance themselves from various matters related to the disaster, or how to face these matters.
This is the tenth year in an unexpected catastrophe.
There must also be people who remember or look back on the disaster in times of panic at sudden changes and bewilderment about a different way of life to before.
Suddenly remembering, not being able to forget, not wanting to forget.
Perhaps you have stories and memories connected to the disaster which you haven’t yet put into words: something too important to convey to someone; something you can never adequately express no matter how you talk about it; or conversely, or something you feel is too small a thing to talk about.
We feel that these thoughts and the conversation they generate hold clues for our survival together going forward.
Now that you’ve written down your memories, do you have time to share them?
We’re looking for personal memoirs or accounts related to the Great East Japan Earthquake. In particular, we would like you to write about things and events over the ten or so years since the disaster which you cannot forget, do not want to forget, or want to remember.
Eligibility
Anyone may make a submission
Length
No more than 1200 characters
Required information
your personal memoir or account/title/your name or pen name/self-introduction and background to your piece (not more than 300 characters, to be submitted along with your memoir/account to the address below) and contact information.
The person in charge/ “Memoirs for a decade on”
Project Coordination Division, Project Department
Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
Arts Council Tokyo
Kudan First Place 8F, 4-1-28, Kudankita, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0073
*Please note submitted material will not be returned.
Submission period
Saturday, June 27, 2020 – Friday, January 22, 2021
*We will select and feature submissions at certain times during the submission period (scheduled for July 19, August 16, September 6, October 25, November 29, January 22 (planed))
Kazuko Ono (folklorist/Miyagi Folklore Association)
Natsumi Seo (artist/founder of NOOK)
Daichi Nakamura (writer and director/leader of Yaneura Heights)
Junko Takamori (social psychologist/ Group for Continuous Documentation of the Great Hanshin Earthquake)
Project Coordination Division, Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
TEL: 03-6256-8435(Weekday 10:00-18:00)/080-9081-0171 (on the day of the event)
E-mail: info-ap@artscouncil-tokyo.jp
*Your personal information will be handled as strictly confidential, and used only to send you information from the organizer about this event.
*Program details are subject to change.
