Voices of Tohoku-visual community archive project

Voices of Tohoku

May 2013 – Aug 2013

Project Report

Overview

The “Voices of Tohoku” project is currently expanding its reach into new communities and platforms.

We are continuing to interview on a regular basis. Our work has expanded into three new communities.  

We are meeting affected community leaders across Japan to decide where to expand next.

A website is under development with the help of design students and volunteers.

Our academic advisors are working with us to prepare an archive catalogue for researchers. We are writing the program guidelines for a general book that will be distributed to communities interested in initiating the project.

Community Response

After we distributed the personal copies to participants in Watari and Yamamoto we received great responses from people telling us they watched their own interview with their entire family, and it was a meaningful experience. Due to this we are getting new requests for interviews from these communities.

Web Site Development

-We are fortunate to cooperate with the 

 prestigious Musashino Art School in Tokyo.

 Their students are working with us to develop

 a video web site platform that will be the

 main tool to raise awareness for Tohoku  

 outside of Japan.

 Utilizing their amazing talents as designers,

 we believe this will be a huge addition to

 the project’s artistic value.

-Volunteers are helping us to catalogue and

 translate interviews to be posted onto the

 website. 

Current Communities

-Ishinomaki City – The community book is currently being printed. We finished designing it, and collecting messages for the book from local residents and the Vice Mayor. We are collecting interviews on a regular basis to establish a wide range of people from different aspects of this community.

-Watari – Interviews are conducted on a regular basis. The library has dedicated a corner to display the project.

-Yamamoto – We are establishing the project 

 into new areas of the town. We are planning

 community events to raise awareness about the

 project.

Expansion of the Project

-Osaka- We started to interview members of a

 group of evacuees from Fukushima. They are

 happy to share their stories and see this as

 an important opportunity to save a memory for

 their children. 

-Sendai- We started to interview residents in

 temporary houses. In this community we are  

 cooperating with a professional Japanese

 television director from NHK (a major Japanese television station).

Academic

-We are currently cataloging the material to

 include metadata crucial for research

 purposes.

-With the help of our academic advisors we are

 developing an assessment procedure to

 evaluate the effects of the program on

 individuals.  

-Japanese professors have notified us they  applied for a Japanese government research grant to study the content of our interviews.