ハーバード・イェンチン研究所「危機の日本――衝撃の後からアフターケアへ」

Japan in Crisis: From Aftershock to Aftercare
Date: Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14, 2011
Time: 9:30-5:45 pm (Friday), 2-4 pm (Saturday)
Location: Room 105, William James Hall, Harvard University
　
The Heisei Era in Japan so far has experienced numerous crises on different dimensions, ranging from political, financial, and social turmoil to natural disasters, as if it has inherited the turbulence of the eventful Showa history. In the face of calamity, however, the Japanese people have always amazed the world with their extreme resilience and stoicism. It has been generally suggested that the Japanese people are impressively responsive to disasters, given their all too frequent experience of calamity in an island country. Although it is still too soon to comment on whether the recent catastrophe caused by the 3/11 Earthquake would be able to push the nation to change, it at least provides a good opportunity to re-examine the various crises that have haunted the modern Japan, and explore how the Japanese people have sought different ways of aftercare and overcoming the aftershocks. This workshop therefore aims to revisit both natural and man-made disasters from Meiji to Heisei, in order to investigate how Japanese reacted to or overcame these crises, and how these crises have shaped Japan’s national psyche and individual