Life Beyond the Tohoku Disasters: Autonomy and Adaptability in Coastal Japan

by Alyne E. Delaney

Overview

This book explores, in rich, ethnographic detail, the lives of a group of Japanese fishers and community residents in coastal Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami generated from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Focused on one town in Miyagi Prefecture near the epicenter of the 2011 quake, the text provides a singularly unique opportunity to hear, in their own voices, individuals’ reflections and experiences on life after the disasters while also drawing upon anthropological fieldwork data from many of the same individuals 10 years prior to the disaster.

Alyne E. Delaney skillfully contextualizes local culture and fishing livelihoods and lays out key impacts of disaster reconstruction policies on local society, illustrating the importance of people’s attachment to their places and seascapes, their connections with one another and shared traditions, and their sea-connected working ways of life.

Delaney reveals not only the heartbreak of the disasters and the strain placed on individuals and coastal communities when national policymakers fail to use good governance when rebuilding, but also provides insights into how some have managed to recover and learn the wisdom of knowing what real happiness is, offering readers an enlightening discourse of the potency of the local cultural traits of autonomy and adaptability.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793616555
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/15/2024
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Alyne E. Delaney is associate professor of cultural anthropology at Tōhoku University’s Center for Northeast Asian Studies and Graduate School of Environmental Studies.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Life Before

Chapter 1: Scenes, Seascapes, and Disasters

Chapter 2: Anchoring Coastal Ways of Life

Chapter 3: Connecting Coastal Ways of Life

Part II: The Disasters of 3.11

Chapter 4: Remembering Ano Hi, “That Day”

Part III: Resilience: Life a Decade later

Chapter 5: Rebuilding Lives

Chapter 6: Policy Impacts on Working Lives

Chapter 7: Knowing What Happiness Is

Glossary

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

This is an unusual collection of essays by Delaney, an environmental anthropologist. Tohoku is the term for the northeast region of Japan's main island of Honshu, the site where the infamous earthquake and tsunami of March 11,2011 (3/11) had the most devastating impact. Some chapters are drawn from earlier ethnographic fieldwork conducted for the author's 2003 dissertation, while others are based on interviews with survivors of the 3/11 disaster, which destroyed local economies and took thousands of lives. Readers learn, for example, that Miyagi Prefecture, where this research was located, suffered 60 percent of all casualties (10,471 deaths). Given that this is an area with its own unique cultural beliefs and rituals, the background chapters stemming from older research on seaweed harvesters and community lifestyles provide readers with useful context. Well written and empathetic, the short narratives from survivors are the most valuable. Also included are discussions of the gendered nature of coastal work and of government reconstruction policies and outcomes. This study is best for students and scholars of studies of Japan, disaster studies, and environmental studies. Recommended. General readers through faculty.

Choice Reviews

Delaney’s deeply researched ethnography affords invaluable insights into the everyday lives and work of residents in coastal communities in northeastern Japan with a special focus on fishers and their families. This monograph also portrays ongoing social change and the remarkable resilience of residents in Tōhoku. This grounded longitudinal analysis highlights both the challenges faced over time and the positive transformation of communities in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Susanne Klien

With great compassion and commitment rooted in decades of iterant, intimate engagement, Alyne Delaney paints a vivid picture of a rural Japanese culture that long received little attention in academia: the world of local fishers and nori seaweed cultivators in the Tōhoku region – both before, during, and after 3.11. This book is about more than the multiple disasters of March 2011 and their consequences, as Delaney’s intimate knowledge and long-time connections allow her to artfully portray these local communities before as much as accompany them throughout the struggles of disasters and reconstruction. The book also clearly highlights the disruptive forces of reconstruction policies, which altered the landscape and the organization of work more than the earthquake and tsunami. Nevertheless, as she stresses the resilience, adaptability, and drive for autonomy of her proponents, Delaney does much more than create a moving memorial of a local fishing culture lost in disaster, leaving us with the hope that this coastal life will continue and evolve, cautiously reconnecting with the sea, be it from behind gargantuan seawalls and in new corporatized forms of engaging with the ocean.

Sonja Ganseforth

Life Beyond the Tōhoku Disasters beautifully narrates the rich history and way of life of seaweed fishing communities in northern Japan. Based on her long-term ethnographic engagement with those coastal residents before and after the 3.11 disaster, Alyne Delaney convincingly depicts their experiences of changes, challenges, and even joy, and how their quotidian practices allowed them to cultivate resilience.

Satsuki Takahashi