The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 10 | Issue 18 | Number 2 | Apr 24, 2012

1

From Uniqlo to NGOs: The Problematic “Culture of Giving” inInter-Disaster Japan　　ユニクロから非非政府組織まで−−災害間の日本における「与える文化」の問題

Jennifer Robertson

F r o m U n i q l o t o N G O s : T h eProblematic “Culture of Giving” inInter-Disaster Japan

Jennifer Robertson

In Japan, March is the month when the“awakening of insects” (keichitsu) and thevernal equinox (shunbun) are observed, thelatter a national holiday. March is also themonth when unthinkable things havehappened, from the deadly Subway Sarin GasAttack in Tokyo launched by the Aum Shinrikyosect on 20 March 1995, to the magnitude 9.0earthquake of 2:46 p.m. on 11 March 2011followed by a mega-tsunami that shredded thenortheast coast and precipitated the meltdownof several Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear reactors.The coastal areas closest to the epicenter of thequake shifted four meters eastward and sank1.2 meters; the main island of Honshu sank byan average of 2.4 centimeters. According to aNational Policy Agency Report, as of March2012, 15,854 people were killed, 26,992injured, and 3,155 remain missing; 129,225buildings were smashed to bits, and over amillion seriously damaged. 325,000 people arestill living in prefab barracks, and only aboutsix percent of the 23 tons of debris have beendisposed. 1 The seventeenth and f irstanniversaries of the subway attack anddevastating earthquake were commemoratedthis past March.

2012 saw the inauguration of yet anotherMarch event. At 10 a.m. on 16 March, Uniqlore-reopened its flagship store on the Ginza

(Tokyo’s Fifth Avenue). The twice-renovatedsite now boasted a twelve-story glass vitrine ofinexpensive casual clothing. When I arrived anhour later, the double line of customers waitingtheir turn to snag the colorful Chinese-made t-shirts and jeans stretched well over two blocks(Fig. 1). Police and television crews wereeverywhere. Multilingual Uniqlo clerks withmegaphones expertly shepherded thecustomers into the store. Meanwhile, flushertourists from China flooded the high-enddepartment stores like Wako, Mitsukoshi, andMatsuya that circle Uniqlo. I was remindedanew of how Chinese shoppers especially arehelping keep alive Tokyo’s (and Japan’s)struggling retailers.

The founder and president of Uniqlo, YanaiTadashi, allegedly the richest person in Japan,was interviewed on CNN’s “Talk Asia” on 2 and3 March of this year. He decried the inability ofpoliticians to work together proactively asnational leaders to rescue the collapsingeconomy, and was right on target with hissharp criticism of the central government’schaotic, dishonest, and wholly inadequateresponse to the triple disasters of last March.Curiously, he failed to implicate the TokyoElectric Power Company (TEPCO) in hiscensure of politicians,2 and emphasized insteadhis own inability, as a businessman, to bringabout constructive changes and reforms.

There is much about Yanai to admire, but Ifound his claims of political impotence a littledisingenuous. Last year, Yanai contributed$25.7 million in aid for victims of the 11 Marchtriple disaster, half of which came from his own

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

2

pocket, and the rest from Uniqlo in the form ofcash and clothing. But as I listened to the CNNinterview, I could not help but muse thatinvesting his profits in a model Uniqlo factoryfor the Tōhoku (Northeast) region, where the9.0 earthquake, giant tsunami and three-reactor meltdown left 65,000 survivors withoutlivelihoods (many of their unemploymentbenefits expired in February, 2012), wouldhave been a far more boldly proactive andtransformative initiative than one-timedonations. In view of the fact that there is along history of textile and sewing factories inthe northeast, such a facility would help torescue part of the slumping manufacturingsector as well as showcase Yanai’s vauntedtechnological innovations and dynamicentrepreneurship. At some point, perhaps asearly as in the next several years, Chinese laborwill not be so “cheap” and the often harsh andexploitative working conditions less tolerated.3

The repatriation of manufacturing would be apragmatic move that could only strengthen theaffluence and integrity of all sectors ofJapanese society.

Fig. 1: The re-opening of Uniqlo's flagshipstore on the Ginza, 16 March 2012.Photograph by author.

However, a week before the Ginza flagship’s re-opening, instead of a model factory, Uniqloopened temporary (one-year) outlets inprefabricated metal structures in threenortheastern cities. In its press release, Uniqloclaimed to be responding to local demand, andthat these three stores would “provide dailynecessities, the joy of wearing clothes and jobopportunities.” This response is part of Yanai’snew Uniqlo Restoration Support Project thatwill invest $300 million in five relatively newNGOs. They are JEN, ADRA [AdventistDevelopment and Relief Agency] Japan, IVY(International Volunteer Center Yamagata),PlaNet Finance Japan, and Tōhoku Kyōeki TōshiKikin (Northeast Profit Sharing InvestmentFund). Founded at the end of 2011, this lastNGO is the newest of the five.

I visited the prefab Uniqlo in Kesennuma(Miyagi prefecture), where I joined dearfriends, who survived the tsunami, for the first-year anniversary of the multiple disasters. I willwrite more below about the commemoration weattended at a Buddhist temple. But first, I wantto look more closely at Japanese NGOs andNPOs, including the Japanese Red Cross, asthey, and not the Japanese central or localgovernments, have been the main clearinghouses for earthquake and tsunami relief funds.A lot of thorough investigative reporting hasbeen conducted on all angles of the Fukushimanuclear debacle, some of which is cited in thisarticle. Likewise, moving stories about theversatility of the people who, having losteverything, started over again from scratch,continue to be published and broadcast in theJapanese and global mass media along withhorrifying footage of the roiling tsunami. Lesscovered in the Japanese and foreign media isthe connection between Japanese and foreigndonors, whether corporate, governmental, orindividual, and NGOs and NPOs, and the“culture of giving” enabled and perpetuated bythat relationship.4 While acknowledging thegood and necessary work of non-governmentaland non-profit organizations, in the pages that

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

3

follow I aim to draw attention to some of theproblematic aspects of seemingly altruisticactivities, including “mission drift,” on the partof those organizations as they seek to remainviable and solvent. It should already be evidentthat my approach to this end is not a typical“linear narrative,” with a sequential,unidimensional, forward progression toward an“official story” about a given subject. Mine ismore of a looping narrative. Nor do I give equalattention to competing or contradictoryinterpretations of a given subject, the so-calledRashomon effect. Rather, my method is anexercise in montage, or in connecting “dots”;that is, in juxtaposing events and actions thatappear unrelated in order to reveal theircontiguity and synergistic relationship, and,ideally, to generate new meanings and insights.

Moved by the horrific damage caused by thetowering tsunami, individuals and corporationsalike all around the world, including in Japan,have contributed several billions of dollars inchar i tab le donat ions over the pas tyear—Kuwait, for example sent five millionbarrels of crude oil worth $520 million. Almostall of the money was donated to NGO/NPOs,most of it to the Japanese Red Cross Society(JRCS), which the government designated asthe focal point for cash donations in Japan.

In its February 2012 “Operations Update,” theJRCS reports that it had transferred $4.5 billionover the past year to fifteen prefectures toassist disaster survivors with cash grants. Thefifteen prefectures presumably included bothprefectures that were devastated and thosethat accepted survivors for relocation. $4billion came from “international donors”excluding “sister Red Cross societies,” and$500 million from the public-owned JapanBroadcasting Corporation (NHK) and from theCentral Community Chest of Japan, the nationalorganization that coordinates local communitychests which are operated by individual andautonomous boards of directors. The Red Crosstransfers donated cash to prefectural “grant

disbursement committees” that work withmunicipal authorities to identify beneficiaries.Ostensibly (although exactly how is not clear)the several dozen NGO/NPOs involved inTōhoku relief efforts, including those nowaffiliated with Uniqlo, also work with andthrough prefectural and municipal offices. Thelatter are also responsible for actuallydistributing the cash; as of February 2012,$3.84 billion has been delivered to “thebeneficiaries” according to the JRCS, with atleast $660 million yet to be transferred anddisbursed.

A month after the mega-earthquake, reports ofvarying degrees of investigative depth werealready circulating in the Japanese (andforeign) mass media about how donations werenot reaching those who most needed them forthe reasons that many local governmentaloffices, along their digital and paper recordsand files, had been destroyed by the tsunami,and that local officials had either lost their livesor evacuated. Also, insurance companies andmunicipal authorities were unable to processcompensations and pensions until deathcertificates were properly registered. This didnot begin to happen until months after thethreefold disaster because surviving familymembers were unwilling to declare a missingrelative “deceased” until 100 days hadpassed—a temporal boundary in Buddhistfunerary practices separating the living fromthe dead.

Although pension funds are handled separatelyfrom charity donations, that both had yet to befully distributed has been attributed in part tothe dearth of local-level administrators. Civilengineers, nurses, counselors, and a wholespectrum of infrastructural support staff areneeded to assist with the most urgent relieftasks. To further complicate matters, asreported in Nikkei.com, an online economicsjournal, the Reconstruction Agency, establisheda long eleven months after the catastrophicearthquake, is headquartered in Tokyo—not

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

4

Tōhoku—with a regional bureau based in theinland city of Morioka (Iwate prefecture) and acouple of branch offices. Coastal towns andcities, whose elected officials survived thetsunami, are now at the mercy of a flood ofpaperwork that has to be ferried throughseveral levels of bureaucracy before theirpetitions for aid reach Tokyo.

No wonder Twitters, blogs, and localnewspapers (like the Sanriku Shinpō publishedin Kesennuma) are still abuzz with angrycomplaints about the snail’s pace of financialassistance and reconstruction. Only a fractionof the enormous mountains of rubble has beenincinerated. Because of widespread fears fromlocal officials and citizens alike about possiblecontamination from the wreckage, PrimeMinister Noda has had to promise “financialassistance” to municipalities willing to accepttsunami debris for disposal. Not unnoticed isthe parallel to the Tokyo Electric PowerCompany’s (TEPCO) subsidies to communitieswilling to host nuclear reactors, which inretrospect, was a Faustian pact. Noda has alsoappealed to the private sector, requesting thatcement makers, paper mills and steelmakersrecycle wood, metal and soil from the disasterzones. Because high radiation levels have beenfound in recycled cement, citizens areconcerned that the companies involved insalvaging tsunami debris may be less diligentabout, or even bypass, testing for toxiccontent.5 TEPCO’s own refusal to burn woodchips processed from debris has invoked one ofthe few expressions of open enmity toward thatcompany in the Japanese Anglophonemedia—the Japanese language media simplyreported its refusal.6

Dozens of wired Japanese have dedicated theirblogs to soliciting answers to some of the samedisturbing questions that drew my attention tothe disbursement of charity donations.7 Onwhat items and projects has what amount ofcharity money been spent? How are theremaining donations being maintained or

invested? Who is responsible for keeping stricttrack of the funds, and how is accountabilitybeing assured? These matters are not clearlyspelled out, if at all, on the websites maintained(in Japanese and other languages) by,especially the large, NGOs involved in Tōhokuaffairs. Given the succession of financialscandals and bankruptcies in Japan over thepast year—most recently AIJ InvestmentAdvisor’s apparent ponzi scheme in which $2.4billion in pension funds for 880,000 workersvanished—training a searchlight on NGOoperations and encumbered donations wouldcertainly seem in order. Such transparencywould go a long way to dispel suspicions aboutthe possible misappropriation of tsunami fundsraised last December when, as reported in theJapan Times, the Japanese Fisheries Agencyadmitted to spending $29 million (!) to equip awhaling fleet based way down south inNagasaki with “security equipment” in theevent of an encounter with anti-whalingactivists.

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

5

Fig. 2: The prefab Mina-machi MurasakiIchiba (Violet Market) in Kesennuma,Miyagi Prefecture. Photograph by author,11 March 2012.

The 3/11 daishinsai sparked a lively debate inthe Asahi Shinbun and elsewhere aboutwhether the crisis would occasion the spread inJapan of kifubunka, or “a culture of giving.”8 Onits website JACO (Japan Association ofCharitable Organizations) lauded thetemporary (five-year) post-3/11 tax reforms thatallows individuals to either deduct from theirincome tax or to gain as a tax credit, 80% oftheir donations, up from the earlier limit of10%; for incorporated donors, the entireamount of a donation (to registered outfits) istax deductible. A recent permanent reform,building on progressive legislation passed in1998 concerning the role of incorporatedNGO/NPOs, allows individuals to either deductfrom their income tax or to gain as a tax credit,

40% of their taxable income, up from theearlier limit of 10%. JACO also reports that therequisite paperwork has been simplified, initself a remarkable reform in the empire ofpaperphiles.9 As of March 2011, there were42,387 incorporated NGO/NPOs; however,donations to only 208 of them are eligible fortax deductions.10 Unlike the NGOs whosecoffers will soon be brimming with donationsfrom Yanai and Uniqlo, among other wealthyCEOs and their corporations—all of whomstand to benefit from the temporary taxreforms—the vast majority of NGO/NPOs inJapan operate at the level of micro-local micro-financing.11

Like its 2011 heir, the 1998 law was occasionedby a natural disaster, the Great HanshinEarthquake of 17 January 1995. The shockingparalysis of the central government at thattime—Japan still lacks an accountableprofessional disaster management institution,like FEMA—inadvertently empowered the well-networked yakuza (organized crime syndicates)to step in as first responders. In fact, asreported in the Japan Times, Tomohiko Suzuki,a freelance journalist who worked undergroundat Fukushima, estimates that at least 10% ofsubcontractors depend on the yakuza forrecruiting day laborers to clean up theradioactive mess.12 An enhanced role fororganized crime in disaster relief efforts ishardly a platform for the emergence of“citizens’ power.” What is indicative of anemergent “true civil society,” JCIE and JACOinsist, is the reality of the 1.2 million “volunteerdays”—the actual number of volunteers isunknown—donated following the 1995earthquake, and the 900,000 days in 2011,largely orchestrated by NGO/NPOs. 1 3

Uncounted in these figures, and not to beoverlooked is the awe-inspiring commitment ofhundreds of survivors to use their own hands,and funds, to help resurrect their hometowns,however futile some of those efforts appear tobe due to contamination, significant sinkageand/or remote location.

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

6

On many NGO websites, much is made abouthow a “culture of giving” has not been nurturedin Japan. This is not quite accurate as “giftgiving” is a highly structured—and highlycommercialized—year-round ritual in Japaninvolving a network of mutual obligations.14

What the NGOs are likely alluding to is a newtype of giving, the voluntary giving of donationsto strangers at home and abroad, as opposed toboth ritualized gifting and the long history ofmutual aid (tasuke’ai), especially evident in thefarming and fishing sectors. Regarding thelatter, neighbors would collaborate in diggingand maintaining irrigation canals, thatchingroofs, repairing fishing nets, assisting atfunerals, extinguishing fires, and so on.15 Anurban expression of this esprit de corps tookthe form of a “volunteer boom” in the 1980sand 1990s.16 What is very different abouttasuke’ai then and volunteerism today ism o t i v e s — p e r s o n a l — a n d t a r g e tpopulation—strangers. The central government(through the Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology) quickly soughtto harness volunteerism as an agent of non-partisan public service unrelated to personaledification or self-fashioning. In short, theNGO/NPO reforms of 1998 marked thebeginning of the government’s dedicatedinvestment in the “non-profit” sector as a wayof redistributing social services, a strategyglossed as “neo-liberal” in the case of for-profitprivatization.

The Japanese non-profit Public ResourceCenter (CPRD) declares in its manifesto that:“Our aim is to realize a ‘civil society’ that willenable people to express themselves withoutrestraint, to cooperate with one another, toappeal to society vigorously, and to improvesociety.” NGOs/NPOs are expected to serve asa vehicle for realizing these “hopes” fromindividuals and to take up a leadership role inthis “new society”.17 Ishii Sumie, the managingdirector of the NGO Japanese Organization forInternational Cooperation in Family Planning(JOICFP), whose usual bailiwick is “developing”

countries, further qualifies a true civil societyas one that is sex and gender sensitive anddedicated to enabling women to become astrong economic force.

18

Clearly, NGOs and NPOs are not just a moreefficient means of delivering disaster reliefquickly and efficiently when and where neededand in whatever form necessary, from money toclothing to labor. They envision themselves,and have been harnessed by others, includingthe government and corporations, as vehiclesfor unprecedented social, economic, andpolitical transformations. Moreover, as CPRD’sexecutive director, Kishimoto Sachiko,emphasizes, the widespread use today in Japanof credit and debit cards,19 in combination withinternet shopping, has made it possible forindividual givers to act spontaneously by simplyclicking on the “donate” icon on NGO/NPO andcorporate websites.

The rise of volunteerism was expedited by 1995Hanshin earthquake and organized as a socialforce through the subsequent NG0/NPOreforms noted earlier. What is new, or at leastblatantly visible today, is the high-profile roleof the for-profit corporate sector in mediatingNGO/NPO activities, including the selectiverecruitment of volunteers. Exemplifying thisnew reality is the influential, globallynetworked, and newly resurgent NGO, JapanPlatform (JPF). On its website, JPF isintroduced as a “new cooperation of NGOs, thebusiness community, and the government”whose main mission is to “facilitate thedevelopment of Japanese civil society in the21st century.” Thirty-three NGO “unitmembers” are on board (two of which, JEN andADRA have also teamed up with Uniqlo), andthe “business community” in question is thepowerful conservative Nippon Keidanren(Japan Business Federation). JPF’s director,Arima Toshio, is former president and currentboard director and executive advisor of FujiXerox, and was appointed to the UN’s GlobalCompact Board by Secretary-General Ban Ki-

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

7

Moon in 2007 . Japan P la t form i s aninternational, über NGO, an NGO for NGOs: itcollects donations—nearly $67 million in justone month following the 9.0 earthquake—whichit then distributes to smaller NGOs whoseprograms it tracks and profiles on its website.20

Dr. Jennifer Jones (Virginia Tech), a politicaleconomist whose research focuses on AmericanNGOs operating in Africa (Tanzania), hasinterrogated the unsavory aspects of “charityculture.” Jones observes that many NGOsbegan as humanitarian missions but since haveexpanded to become growth industries, withthe largest American NGOs boasting revenuesof over $1 billion from donations, mostly fromcorporations and the U.S. government.Ironically, the activities of many of thesecorporat ions contr ibute to var iousenvironmental and social problems, but now, asJones asserts, “they’re giving the money to theNGOs to go and ‘fix the problem’.” Moreover,increasingly it is the case that donors (i.e.,corporations and government) are setting the“humanitarian” agenda, their donations servingas “incentives.”21 Although Jones’ subject isAmerican NGOs involved with conservation andeco-tourism, her concerns raise questionsrelevant to the post-daishinsai role of NGOs inJapan, and the hundreds of millions of dollarsdonated to them by corporations (and theirCEOs) like Uniqlo and Softbank. As notedearlier, Uniqlo has used its collaboration withNGOs, including the UN Refugee Agency, tomeld humanitarian deeds with corporateinterests.

Astonishingly, and in contrast to the rapidgrowth in NGO/NPOs, even after the GreatHanshin Earthquake of 1995 Japan still lacksan adequately staffed, unified disastermanagement office that integrates all relevantagencies. The staff of the Disaster ManagementBureau (within the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) wasincreased to fifty from thirty-six after March2011; in contrast, FEMA has a staff of 3,700

about 4,000 personnel on standby. Almost bydefault then, individual volunteers andNGO/NPOs will continue to play a crucial roleas first responders in managing the aftermathof natural disasters. Japanese automakers mayhave invented the “just in time” approach tomanufacturing, but the central governmentcontinues to pursue “not in time” practices indisaster zones!

If new earthquake “predictions” proveaccurate, NGO/NPO first responders are likelyto once again have their work cut out for them.Japanese geologists and seismologists recentlyraised the alarm of a 7+ magnitude earthquake(and accompanying tsunami) occurring in theNankai Trough running along the southwestcoast, within four years at the earliest, andcertainly within thirty years. Based on newlyrevised future disaster scenarios circulated atthe beginning of April 2012 by an “expertpanel” from the Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology, a tsunamiranging from 2.3 meters in Tokyo Bay to 34meters further south along the island ofShikoku is predicted in the event of a majorearthquake. These numbers are two to threetimes higher than earlier figures on the basis ofwhich exiting evacuation facilities were built.22

Up and down the coast, residents and localleaders alike are in a state of shock. Televisionprograms are doing their part to unsettleviewers with graphic simulations of thepredicted flooding of low-lying areas, subwaytunnels, the immediate death of 11,000 people,and the collapse of 850,000 structures in thecapital alone! But will such hair-raisingprophesies provoke the central government andconstituent parliamentarians to finally reversethe old adage and not miss the opportunity totake the opportunity to exercise definitive (asopposed to dogmatic) leadership? One hopesthat if (and when) the Big One strikes, whoeveris the prime minister at that time will actuallydeclare a state of emergency, which former PMKan did not do on 11 March 2011.23 What

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

8

cabinet officials are presently doing, throughtheir media mouthpieces, is simply urgingpeople from Tokyo on down the coast to “acturgently to protect themselves.” Perhaps themuch ballyhooed TOKYO SKYTREE (sic), at2,080 feet the tallest tower in the world and setto open in May this year, can double as atsunami evacuation site?

Nearly 300 square miles of Japan’s northeastcoast was decimated by the quake. Exceptingthe dangerously radioactive area around thecrippled Fukushima reactors, Tōhoku has thepotential to become the country’s largestconstruction site. However, a building boomhas yet to develop (with the exception of Sendaicity) due to a triple whammy of post-disastercircumstances: utterly indecisive central, anddisrupted local, leadership; continued delays inclearing tsunami debris and initiatingreconstruction programs; and the exodus of43,000 (mainly younger) people from theregion, which has long suffered from a rapidlyaging and declining population. The corporatesector does not seem to view as profitable adedicated investment in the enlightenedrebuilding of the Tōhoku coast, one that would,say, help subsidize the many brilliant designsfor eco-friendly, tsunami-safe communitiesdrawn up by architects, engineers, andenvironmentalists, in consultation with localresidents, willing to contribute their expertiseto the cause.24 What the government is helpingto make investment-worthy is debrisdisposal—which prompts the question of whyincinerators and debris disposal facilities arenot simply built in the devastated areas, thusproviding employment and a new recyclingindustry for the region. A related question thatarises—one that is not (yet) publicly posed—iswhether funds earmarked for disaster relief,and even NGO surpluses, are being used torecruit waste management companies fromoutside Tōhoku.

It is difficult and frustrating to try and trackboth the actual amounts of money received (as

opposed to pledged) by NGO/NPOs much lessthe actual amounts distributed, when, how,and/or to whom. GiveWell, an independent,nonprofit charity evaluator that focuses on“how well programs actually work and theireffects on the people they serve,” has crunchedthe numbers and deciphered the somewhato b f u s c a t o r y l a n g u a g e a n d “ l o wsubstantiveness” of the relief activities andreports of Japanese NGOs/NPOs operating inTōhoku after 3/11. According to GiveWell onemonth after the disaster, “the numbers…implythat nonprofits have gotten more than enoughfunding for what they are planning.”2 5

However , GiveWel l seems to re ly onAnglophone documents, such as thosepublished by the United Nations Office for theCoordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Many ofthe smaller, highly localized NPOs not onGiveWell’s radar offer clearer and moresubstantive accounts of relief activities on theirwebsites (few of which have English versions).For example, It’s Not Just Mud (INJM) isnoteworthy for providing straightforward, up todate reports on its projects, its collaborators,and its budget in English and Japanese.26 Incontrast, the websites of the more prominentand largest NGOs (including those mentionedearlier) are visually loquacious, with lots of flowcharts and embedded links, but vague on nuts-and-bolts information.

Local newspapers, like the Sanriku Shinpōpublished in Kesennuma, provide sets offigures that an enterprising investigator couldcross-check against those listed by NGO/NPOs.Most of the 11 March 2012 issue that I boughtwhen visiting that port city was devoted tothanking the 50,000 volunteers who, for thepast year, shoveled smelly sludge and sorteddebris.27 Twenty (unnamed) city-based andoutside NGO/NPOs were also thanked for theircontinuing efforts to support the fishingindustry and also families living in makeshiftunits. Of the approximately $226.5 million indonations received by Kesennuma (togetherwith the neighboring town of Minamisanriku),

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

9

90% have been distributed in cash tosurvivors.28 The paper also points out that thecentral government (Reconstruction Ministry)funded only 30% of the $88 million applied forto help cover the reconstructions of the portand roads. The city will reapply, a process thatwill further delay reconstruction.29 Again thequestion arises, where and how—and when—isthe substantial amount of monetary donationsremaining going to be disbursed?

Without a doubt, NGO/NPOs supported andprovided vital relief work from day one in thedevastated cities, towns and villages along thenortheast coast, and volunteers have beenwarmly thanked over and over by gratefulsurvivors, like those in Kesennuma. Inspired bythe intrinsic worth of public service, manyvolunteers of small, local, spontaneouslyformed NPOs, like the core members of It’s NotJust Mud, have quit their regular jobs tobecome fulltime grassroots organizers.However, now that the first stage of disasterrelief is over, how exactly will their needs toremain integral as an organization, which mayinvolve merging with larger NGOs or evenreceiving corporate or government funds, meshwith the changing needs prioritized by localresidents?30 The problem of “mission drift” isnot inconsiderable, and NGO/NPOs founded forhumanitarian purposes must also take intoaccount a corporate sponsor’s record on ethicalpractices.

These are the kind of questions and concernsthat bother Takasuna Harumi. The sixty-sixyear old Takasuna is an experienced disasterrelief organizer from the Kobe area whoacquired his sought after expertise in theaftermath of the 1995 earthquake. He wasinvited by the administrators of Kesennuma toassess the role of NGO/NPOs in the city’srecovery efforts. Takasuna was emphatic aboutthe need for Kesennuma citizens to deliberateamong themselves to develop an agenda forreconstruction. He thus advocated for thecreation of strictly local (jimoto) NPOs and the

reconstitution of neighborhood and commercialassociations that had been a casualty of thehellish tsunami and fire. Decisive local,regional and central leadership is crucial, heacknowledged, but not to the extent ofextinguishing citizens’ critical agency,especially if a community is regain itscoherence and capacity for sustainability.31

Fig. 3: "Thank you" banners and posters inTokyo, Ginza and Roppongi Hil ls ,respectively. Photographs by author, 1March 2012.

Realizing that after the first anniversary of 3/11the wave of mass-media attention andvolunteers would begin to recede—as ithas—fifty-one venders who had lost everythingpooled their money and resources and openedon 25 December 2011, a two-story prefabshopping center, the Mina-machi MurasakiIchiba (lit. Southern Town Violet Market) (Fig.2). The prefab market was managed by theKesennuma Revitalized Shopping Street(s)(Kesennuma Fukkō Shotengai), a new iterationof the pre-disaster commercial association thathad managed the shops, restaurants, and barsalong the waterfront.” Violet Market is notexactly a “Ginza,” and there were certainly noChinese tourists present on March 10 and 11when I joined in the “3/11 Memorial Events”along with my local friends.

Unlike the prefab Uniqlo, located further inlandoff a busy street lined with newly opened cardealerships, Violet Market and nearby Sakana-chō (Fish Town), another prefab cluster of

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

10

shops and restaurants, were surrounded by thegutted skeletons of wrecked buildings and lotsof rubble. The memorial program flyercautioned visitors to tread carefully. The two-day series of events was lively and upbeat,punctuated only by the one-minute of silentprayer at 2:46 p.m. on 11 March marking whenthe earthquake had struck. Featured artistsincluded the omnipresent television talk showhost, Mina Monta, the Japanese Regis Philbin;Dragon Ash, a rap-metal band; and theSunnyside Gospel Club.32 Snacks abounded andbeer flowed freely.

Perhaps because it was cold and rainy, andbecause the television crews were stationed atViolet Market, attendance at the Fish Towncelebrations was below expectations, accordingto shopkeepers. About one hundred locals anda few curious outsiders were on hand when Iwas there at the opening. Inside a large whitetent to the side of the prefab market was a lowstage for the performers. The audience stood infront, many of them commenting to each otherabout the before-and-after pictures strungalong the canvas walls of the lively harborneighborhood before it was “swallowed”(nomareta), as the Japanese say, by the 10-meter tsunami. We returned that evening to athird prefab cluster near the ruined harbor,Kesennuma Yokochō (Kesennuma Alley) to dineat Buggy, one of the several izakaya, orJapanese pubs, in the Alley. All twenty dinerscrammed into the 200 square foot prefab werefrom Kesennuma. Boisterous and animated,they transformed the cramped space into afestive family gathering. As my friend, whosefamily is in the “ocean vegetables” retailbusiness, remarked, townies knew that it wasimportant to help each other out by shoppingand eating at these prefab shops and cafes,however inconveniently located.

Everyone attending the memorial events for the3/11 disaster was aware that Violet Market,Fish Town and Kesennuma Alley were buttemporary installations, but hoped that their

presence would serve as a springboard for therebuilding of the harbor community, which inturn might help stem the departure of youngadults especially to greener paddies. It wasthus encouraging to discover that on theevening of 11 March, Re:us.Kesennuma, a city-based NPO-like group of young adults, hadorganized a “Candle Night” memorial modeledafter the late-summer Buddhist festival calledtōrōnagashi that involves floating lightedcandles down a river to guide the spirits of thedeparted back to their realm. In this case,Murasaki Jinja, the patron Shinto shrine of theMina-machi distict, was the religious entityinvolved. Messages of hope from local residentsand concerned citizens all over Japan wereaffixed to the floating candles, which were thenlaunched across the choppy waters of theharbor. The group’s odd English name,Re:us.Kesennuma, is explained (in Japanese) ontheir website: We chose our name to reflect ourmotto, “Let’s begin now with what we canachieve by ourselves.” The “re” refers to“starting over again,” and the “us” to “Those ofus who were born and raised in the Kesennumaarea and began this project to support ourbeloved Kesennuma by collectively taking itsrecovery into our own hands.”33

How many hands does it take to rebuild adevastated community? What are the limits of“home grown” sustainability? How do affectiveappeals for hometown loyalty mesh withbusinesses, like my friend’s, dependent on anational and even global marketplace? Thelimited capacities of the central government indealing responsibly and effectively withorganizing the post-tsunami cleanup and inmanaging the disastrous and ongoingmeltdown at the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclearpower plant, has been exposed to the world. Inits stead will Japanese NGOs and NPOs use themultiple disasters to leverage their ownsolvency and sustainability as the leading role-players in an emergent new type of “culture ofgiving”? Of course, even voluntary “giving” isnot such a simple act, and even at the

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

11

interpersonal level there are expectations of a“return” of some kind, from a “thank you” to atax exemption.

While acknowledging a new spir i t ofvolunteerism in the country since 1995, IshiiS u m i e , m a n a g i n g d i r e c t o r o f t h eaforementioned NGO, Japanese Organizationfor International Cooperation in FamilyPlanning (JOICFP), worries that the threefold-disaster has left the Japanese people as a whole“too inward looking.” I have suggested that thisis a tendency that well predates 2011.34 Japanreceived unprecedented foreign assistance andaid, including donations from “developing”countries that were Japanese aid recipientsthemselves, underscoring the benefits ofinternational interdependence. However, evenbefore 3/11, the central government under theleadership of the dominant, but unstable,Democratic Party of Japan (DJP), had notsought to exert an influential role in globalpolitics as befits the world’s third largesteconomy. Rather, a politics of victimhoodseems to be the order of the day, as evident,ironically, in an appeal omnipresent especiallyoutside of Japan since 3/11: “Pray for Japan.”

Prayers are better directed toward the memoryof the nearly 16,000 people who lost their livesin the disaster.35 “Pray for Japan” may havebeen an appeal initiated abroad, but it has beenco-opted by agents of the state, such as thenational tourism campaigns discussed below.At the Buddhist memorial service I attended inKesennuma, prayers were offered to the soulsof the deceased and to placate the wanderingsouls of those whose bodies are still missing. To“pray” for a nation-state seems a bit peculiarunder the circumstances.In this connection, Ialso suggest that it was from the position of“national victimhood” that former PrimeMinister Kan Naoto appropriated the wordkizuna, or “family” bonds, in a letter publishedin seven selected newspapers in April 2011:The Wall Street Journal, The InternationalHerald Tribune, Financial Times, Le Figaro,

People’s Daily, Chosun Ilbo, and Kommersant.36

In his letter, Kan asserts that, “Through ourown efforts and with the help of the globalcommunity, Japan will recover and come backeven stronger. We will then repay you for yourgenerous aid.” Kan never got a chance toexplain what he meant by “we will repay you”as he was forced to resign four months laterover his mishandling of the multiple disasters.

The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) and the JapanNational Tourism Organization (JNTO) pickedup the kizuna baton with its own 2012 springcampaign to revive the tourism industry whichfell by over 65% after 3/11 but is almost back to2010 levels, in large part due to aggressivepromotion deals aimed especially at thegigantic Chinese market.37 JNTO has festoonedsubway stations in Beijing with postersglamorizing the Tōhoku region, and hasresorted to micro-blogs as well to enticeChinese visitors to northeastern destinations,and not just to ritzy Ginza.38 Curiously, JNTO’scyber-strategy of encouraging Tōhoku tourismincludes omitting from its Chinese, English andKorean websites (updated in 2012) any textualor pictorial reference to the devastationwrought by the gigantic tsunami!39

In Japan at least, the JNTO’s campaign postersand banners are all in English, and their oddgrammar and allusions to Japanese imperialismhave provoked sarcastic comments in themedia. One flag-like banner that is hung acrossthe front of city buses and from street lamps inGinza and other districts, features a stylizedcherry blossom with the message, “Japan.Thank You.” The other poster, posted in variouspublic venues, features several stylized carp,symbols of perseverance, swimming upstream,and the phrases: “Japan, Rising Again. Thankyou for your support. Japan. Thank you” (Fig. 3).40

It has been said, in the context of 3/11, that acrisis is defined not by an outside event, but bythe incapacity to respond effectively.41 Tell that

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

12

to the brave survivors of the tsunami, especiallyin the more isolated areas, whose wits were allthey had to live by in the days before helparrived. This definition of crisis though, ringstrue if the focus is on the central governmentand TEPCO, whose incapacity to act withalacrity also exposed the hubristic lack ofpreparation for such a cataclysmic cascade ofevents. Plenty has been written already aboutthe way in which the smug executives ofTEPCO categorically dismissed proposals toprotect Fukushima Dai’ichi from variousdisaster scenarios. 3/11 is described by all asthe biggest catastrophe in the archipelagosince the deadly air raids and atomic bombingsin 1945. Parallels can be drawn between the“official stories” of these historically separatetragic events. The incapacity of successivepostwar administrations to acknowledge thewartime atrocities committed by Imperialforces throughout the Japan’s Asian and PacificRim empire has been diagnosed, at best, aswillful amnesia. JNTO’s “thank you” campaign,timed to coincide with the spring and summertourist season, could be similarly described. Byomitting from its website up-to-date pictures ofthe tsunami-shredded coast l ine, theorganization has effectively isolated anddisconnected “that day” (ano hi, as 3/11 istermed) from today.42 In short, the “thank you”campaign masks an incapacity to engage withthe ongoing reality of not “post” but “inter-disaster” Japan. There is a long way to gobefore “post” can be used as a prefix.

The memorial service held this year on 11March at the elegant Kannon-ji, a Tendai43

Buddhist temple in Kesennuma founded in thelate 17th century, was attended by over fourhundred parishioners and their guests. Onehundred monks from Tendai templesthroughout Japan had been invited to chant inunison at different intervals during the two-hour service. The one-minute of silent prayer(mokutō) was “silent” only in name, for oncethe memorial sirens sounded at 2:46 p.m., themonks began a vigorous crescendo of chanting

to console the spirits of the thousands whodrowned in the tsunami and to offer solace totheir living relatives and friends. Afterwards,my friends, whose families miraculouslyavoided a terrible fate, said they felt“refreshed” and “energized.” We all sangpraises for the Venerable Honda Kōjun (b.1917), who heads the Tendai Sect in Japan andis the current president of the JapaneseBuddhist Federation. The distinguished priestsurprised us all by his rousing speech deliveredin a robust voice that bel ied his frai lappearance. Most memorable was his astutesummation of both the 3/11 disaster, andmeltdown in particular, as daijinsai, or “greathuman-made disasters,” a play on daishinsai, or“great earthquake disaster.” Most of thecongregation nodded in agreement.

“Factors that turn natural events into a humandisaster are generally the result of humanaction and inaction.”44 The Venerable priestknew this, the congregation of tsunamisurvivors knew this; it seems so obvious. Isubtitled this paper “The Problematic “Cultureof Giving” in Inter-Disaster Japan.” Giving, asdiscussed earlier in the context of volunteerismand NGO/NPOs, is a fundamental corollary andcomponent of a “culture of reaction.”45

Donations, whether in the form of money ormaterials, are a response to a perceived need.But after those immediate needs are met—thefirst phase of disaster relief—what must befostered is a “culture of prevention.”46 Thespecter of the Big One in the Tokyo area looms.In closing, the wise words of Kofi Annan,former United Nations Secretary-General, areworth remembering. Building a culture ofprevention, he cautioned, is not easy. Unlike inthe culture of giving, results and benefits arenot necessarily tangible. Rather, “they are thedisasters that did not happen.”47 Until a cultureof prevention matures and prevails over aculture of giving, NGO/NPOs, as currentlystructured and managed, will be the mainentities that are self-sustaining. Until that time,Japan and Tōhoku will remain in the limbo-like

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

13

mode of “inter-disaster.”

I wish to thank Mark Selden for his helpfulcomments. Research for this project in Japanwas supported in part by a John SimonGuggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship(2011-2012) and an Abe Fe l lowship(SSRC)(2010-2012). All translations fromJapanese to English are mine.

Jennifer Robertson is Professor of Anthropologyand the History of Art at the University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author ofTAKARAZUKA: SEXUAL POLITICS ANDPOPULAR CULTURE IN MODERN JAPAN(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0520211510/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) and editor of A COMPANIONTO THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF JAPAN(http://www.amazon.com/dp/140518289X/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) among other books.R o b e r t s o n i s a l s o t h e e d i t o r o fCOLONIALISMS, a book series from theUniversity of California Press.

Recommended citation: Jennifer Robertson,"From Uniqlo to NGOs: The Problematic“Culture of Giving” in Inter-Disaster Japan,"The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 10, Issue 18, No.2.

Notes

1 For detailed information about the types oftoxic contaminants in the tsunami debris, seeWinifred A. Bird and Elizabeth Grossman,Chemical Contamination, Cleanup andLongterm Consequences of Japan's Earthquakea n d T s u n a m i(https://apjjf.org/-Winifred-Bird/3588), TheAsia-Pacific Journal, 9 (33), No 1, August 15,2011

2 Did Yanai take for granted the collusive bondbetween TEPCO and the central government ordid he, like so many corporate leaders, mediapundits, and celebrities, avoid fingering thepower company for fear of reprisals? HizumiKazuo, a lawyer cum investigative journalist,

has censured the Japanese media for their cozyrelationship with the government and TEPCO.He founded the online investigative newsletter,N e w s f o r t h e P e o p l e o f J a p a n(http://www.news-pj.net/), to provide credibleand accurate information about the aftermathof 3/11 . Unlike some of their counterparts inthe United States, Japanese celebrities havesteered clear of criticizing the government-TEPCO dyad for fear of being blacklisted, aswas Yamamoto Taro. For his story, see ErikaArita, Actor in the spotlight of Japan's antinukemovement, Japan Times, 4 March 2012.A c c e s s i b l e o n l i n e h e r e(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120304x1.html).

3 Uniqlo uses technology to invent and producenew synthetic fabrics and employs in Japan amultilingual staff. As reported in the Japanesemass media in April, Myanmar and otherSoutheast Asian countries are becomingattractive destinations for Japanese companiesas China has been losing its luster amid risingwages. Like other Japanese companies, Uniqlohas its sights set on Myanmar. Not only is thecompany training interns from Myanmar whohave attended Japanese universities, but itsprogram of distributing used Uniqlo clothing torefugee camps in Thailand in concert with theUnited Nations Refugee Agency has raised itsprofile in the region. See “Q&A: Japaneseclothing retail giant helps refugees in uniqueways ,” 2012 . Ava i lab le on l ine here(http://unhcr.or.th/news/general/868). Accessed15 March 2012.

4 In Japan, the main difference between NGOsand NPOs is that the former operateinternationally as well as domestically. NPOsoperate locally; 70% deal exclusively withactivities within a single community.

5 Contaminants include not only radioactivem a t e r i a l s b u t a s b e s t o s , d i o x i n ,chloroflourocarbon, diesel and other toxicagents. Also, as my Japanese colleague, the

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

14

eminent bioethicist Morioka Masahiromentioned to me, Shinto-based superstitionsabout “ritual pollution or defilement” (kegare)are also surfacing as “reasons” for rejectingTōhoku debris.

6 “Tepco should accept woodchips” JapanTimes, 23 April 2012. Available online here(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120423a2.html). Accessed 23 April 2012.

7 Their blogs are fairly easy to find by Googling,in Japanese, the keywords “daishinsai, or greatearthquake disaster,” “kifukin, or donations,”“haibun, or disbursement,” and “gimon, ordoubts/questions.”

8 See, for example, Tanaka Yūichirō, “Kifubunka wa hirogaruka” (Will the culture ofgiving spread), Asahi Shinbun, 28 September2011: 15.

9 S e e h e r e(http://www.kohokyo.or.jp/kohokyo-weblog/topic s -english/2011/07/tax_reforms_adopted_for_charit_1.html). Accessed 15 March 2012.

10 Sadakiyo Eiko, “Waga kuni kifu doko ni tsuite[Trends in charity donations in Japan],” Chosarepoto, Summer 2011, No. 74: 15-23, p. 17.A v a i l a b l e o n l i n e h e r e(http://www.chuomitsui.co.jp/report/pdf/repo1106_2.pdf). Accessed 15 March 2012.

11The website (http://www.jnpoc.ne.jp) of theJapan NPO Center provides profiles of anumber of local-level NPOs operating in thenortheast.

12 Eric Johnston, “Tōhoku in rebuilding bubble,”Japan Times, 27 March 2012. Available onlineh e r e(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120327i1.html). Accessed 28 March 2012.

13 The lower figure for 2011 is due to the widerarea of destruction, the remoteness of many

northeastern towns, and the danger ofexposure to radiation and other toxic materials.Gillian Yeoh, “Lesson Learned: The 2011Disasters in Tōhoku Japan,” p. 8. Availableo n l i n e h e r e(http://give2asia.org/Tōhoku-lessonslearned).Accessed 30 March 2012.

14 There are also two official gift-givingoccasions ochugen (midsummer) and seibo(year-end). The subject of gift-giving in Japanhas generated huge literature over the pastcentury. For a good, recently publishedintroduction to the complexities of Japanese“gift-giving” practices, see Katherine Rupp,Gift-Giving in Japan: Cash, Connections,Cosmologies (Stanford UP, 2003).

15 In the pre-modern period, one form ofpunishing errant households was to withholdall mutual aid except in the event of a fire ordeath.

16 Volunteerism during this period has beenstudied in detail by Victor Koschmann, RobinLeBlanc, Lynne Nakano, Akihiro Ogawa,Carolyn Stevens, and other scholars (publishingin English). There is also a large literature inJapanese.

17 “Civil society” is rendered in both Romanizedform, shibiru sosaetei, and as a Japanese word,s h i m i n b u n k a . S e e l i n k h e r e(http://www.public.or.jp/english/index.html).Accessed 20 March 2012. Similarly, the JapanCenter for International Exchange (JCIE), anindependent, nonprofit, and nonpartisanorganization founded in 1970, declares on itswebsite (www.jcie.or.jp) that the passage of the1998 NPO law set in motion the emergence inJapan of a true “civil society.”

18 JOICFP had to adopted a “somewhat unique”approach to relief work in Japan: “instead offocusing on one geographical area, we focusedon one segment of the population,” namelymothers. The NGO provided monetary andmaterial assistance for “2,400 mothers who

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

15

delivered their babies in the period from March2011 until the end of that year.” BrianHutchinson and Erin Schneider, “Relief Effortsin Japan One Year Later: Reflections andLessons Learned. An Expert Interview withSumie Ishii,” The National Bureau of AsianResearch, Center for Health and Aging. Pp. 1-4.A v a i l a b l e o n l i n e a thttp://nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=221.Accessed 20 March 2012.

1 9 Tanaka Yū ich i rō , “K i fu bunka wahirogaruka.” The widespread use of creditcards is a 21st century phenomenon in Japan.

20 See here (http://www.japanplatform.org).

2 1 S e e h e r e(http://international.williams.edu/on-campus/invasion-of-the-ngos-nature-territory-and-identity-in-tanzania/). Accessed 20 March 2012.

22 “Tokyo quake 'could be stronger thant h o u g h t '(http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120331003296.htm),” Accessed 31 March 2012.

23 For an incisive analysis of the centralgovernment’s failure to exercise leadershipafter the 11 March 2011 disaster, see ShuichiWada, “Operation Tomodachi in MiyagiPrefecture: Success and Homework,” Centerfor Strategic and International Studies, JapanChair Platform, 13 December 2011. Availableo n l i n e h e r e(http://csis.org/publication/operation-tomodachi-miyagi-prefecture-success-and-homework).Accessed on 20 March 2012.

24 Among the websites showcasing such designsa n d p r o j e c t s , a r e t h i s(http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/Tō h o k u _ r e b u i l d ) a n d t h i s(http://www.landscapearchitecture.or.jp/dd.aspx?itemid=2162&efromid=0#moduleid1029).Accessed 2 April 2012. The latter staged anexhibition at Tokyo’s Hibiya Park Green Plaza,April-May 2012, that was innovative and

exciting.

2 5 S e e h e r e(http://blog.givewell.org/category/disaster-relief). Accessed on 20 March 2012.

26 See here (http://itsnotjustmud.com).Accessed on 20 March 2012.

27 Kesennuma suffered a fourfold disaster, for aferocious fire caused by ruptured fuel tanksconsumed structures still standing after theearthquake and tsunami.

28 Arigato. Takusan no shien. (Thank you. Lotsof aid), Sanriku Shinpō, 11 March 2012, p. 8

29 Motomerareru jigyo netsudo (The degree of[reconstruction] work we can expect), SanrikuShinpō, 11 March 2012, p. 4.

30 It’s Not Just Mud, for example, recentlybecame an affiliate of JEN, which is workingwith Uniqlo and other corporations.

31 “Fukkō e shimin pawaa” [Citizens’ powertoward reconstruction Sanriku Shinpō, 11March 2012, p. 8.

32The club is affiliated with the NGO GospelSquare, founded by Japanese gospel singerNana Gentle to help people within and outsideof Japan rekindle a community spirit throughsong. It is not an overtly Christian organizationand references to organized religion are hardlymentioned on their website. See here(http://www.gospelhiroba.com). Accessed 20March 2012.

33Reus (Riasu), is also the name of a local trainline (http://re-us-kesennuma.com). Accessed 15March 2012. One wonders what they will makeof the presence of recommissioned retiredpublic servants unilaterally dispatched in Aprilby the chauvinistic governor of Tokyo, IshiharaShintarō, apparently unilaterally, to assist inthe rebuilding of Tōhoku.

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

16

34 See, for example, my concerns about a“technologically gated” society emerging in 21st

–century Japan. Jennifer Robertson, “Robosapiens japanicus: Humanoid Robots and thePosthuman Family,” Critical Asian Studies,39(3) 2007: 369-398. Ishii’s concerns areechoed by the scholar-diplomat Ogata Sadako,who resigned at the end of March 2011 aspresident of the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA). She also served asthe United Nations High Commissioner forRefugees (1991-2001). Takayuki Hayashi andNoriyuki Wakisaka. 2012 “Sadako Ogata:Discuss nuts and bolts before deciding aidpolicy.” Asahi Shinbun 12 March. Accessed on2 5 M a r c h 2 0 1 2 . S e e l i n k h e r e(http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201203130005).

35 “Pray for Japan” is also the name of a StuLevy film (http://prayforjapan-film.org) releasedin March 2012.

36 The letter was translated into the primarylanguage of each newspaper. Kizuna wasselected as 2012 ideograph of year in an annualpublic opinion poll; runners up were sai(disaster) and shin (quake). Every mid-December the Japan Association of KanjiAptitude Test announces the kanji of the year.The announcement is made in Kyoto at theKiyomizu temple by a priest who writes thewinning character on a large paper canvas.

37 The World Travel and Tourism Council’sGlobal Summit, sometimes called the “DavosForum of Tourism”, will be held in Japan for thefirst time on 16-19 April in Tokyo and Sendai(the capital of Miyagi prefecture).

3 8 “Fukushima Tourism Set to Resume(http://english.sina.com/life/p/2012/0309/447500.html),” 10 March 2012. Accessed 20 March2012.

3 9 S e e l i n k h e r e(http://www.jnto.go.jp/tourism/en/s014.html).Accessed 30 March 2012.

Earlier last year, an Australian tour agency didthe opposite and, highlighting the devastation,launched “kizuna tours” of Minamisanriku, atown south of Kesennuma, where tourists could“volunteer at their own risk” in cleanup work(no NGO/NPOs are mentioned) before enjoying“Japanese hospitality” at a nice hotel in Sendaicity. The agency reassured tourists that, “Asyou travel, shop and dine you can enjoyknowing that you have contributed to theeconomic revitalization of Tōhoku and Japan!”

( S e e l i n k(http://www.ixsmtravel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=350))Accessed 30 March 2012.

40 For example, some of the sarcastic feedbackin Japan Today (http://www.japantoday.com),an Anglophone on-line newsletter, included:“…Looks like the creators are thanking Japan”;“ ‘ Japan thanks you. ’ would be moreappropriate”; “At first, I thought it meant thatImperial Japan was rising to power again”; “Inresponse: Rest of the world. Thank you for thecesium” (“Japan launches global 'thank you'poster campaign,” Japan Today, 22 February2012. Accessed 22 February 2012.

41Paraphrase from David Rubens, Great EasternJapan Earthquake: A Preliminary Briefing onthe Japanese Government’s Disaster ResponseM a n a g e m e n t(http://www.davidrubens-associates.com/PDFS/DRA_Japan%20earthquake%20article_7a_.pdf)(London 2011). Accessed on 15 March 2012.

42 Significantly, in this connection, ano hi hasbeen used since 7 December 1941 to refer tothe Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor afterwhich the United States declared war on Japan.

43 One of the two largest schools of Buddhism inJapan. For pictures of the temple, see here(http://miyagitabi.com/kesennuma/kannonji/index.html).

44 “Can Disasters Help to Improve a Country's

APJ | JF 10 | 18 | 2

17

E c o n o m y ?(http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/newswatch/report090220.htm)” Tiempo ClimateNewswatch. Accessed 20 March 2012.

45 This expression was used by Dr. KurokawaKiyoshi in our conversation at his office at theNational Graduate Institute for Policy Studies,on 6 February 2012 in reference to theproclivity of “the Japanese” to react to eventsand the need today for a proactive mindset. Dr.Kurokawa now chairs the Committee ofParliament to Investigate the Accident atFukushima Nuclear Power Plants established inDecember 2011.

46 Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General ofthe United Nations, coined the expression, and

was an outspoken proponent of such a culture.Although Annan’s proposal for “systemicprevention” was directed toward the resolutionof violent, armed conflicts that transcendedpolitical boundaries, it can usefully be appliedto topographies especially prone to naturaldisasters as well as to a reconception ofNGO/NPO activity in Japan. See Melander, Erik& Claire Pigache, 2007. ”Conflict Prevention:Concepts and Challenges”, in WalterFeichtinger and Predrag Jurekovic, ed.,Konfliktprävention zwischen Anspruch undWirklichkeit. Wien: the Austrian NationalDefence Academy (9-17), p. 10.

47 Kofi Annan cited in “Can Disasters Help toImprove a Country’s Economy?”