eTOPOS

Season’s Greetings for 2022 新年おめでとう御座います

Posted on 2021-12-29 by eTOPOS

Multicolored rocks by the Atlantic Ocean in Marblehead, Massachusetts

Water ebbs and flows,
yet still finds a way forward.

2021 continued to reveal our vulnerabilities,

yet ongoing challenges revealed our strengths:

Strength together, as we move into a new year,

in hopes for a more resilient 2022!

In this past year, we participated in several events to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 3.11 triple disaster. We continue to remember our friends and collaborators in Tohoku. In the ongoing pandemic, inequities, and crises near and far, we will continue to foster the good we can accomplish when in community.

Happy new year from eTOPOS!

Image: By the Atlantic Ocean in Marblehead, Massachusetts / Photo by Shun Kanda

A Stage for All みんなの舞台 : 10 Years Since 3.11

Posted on 2021-03-162021-03-17 by eTOPOS

A future vision of Minamisanriku with a restored estuary

We remember the 10th anniversary of the 3.11 Tohoku disaster. We remember those who perished and the survivors who barely had a place to return to in the tragic aftermath. Recovery is not complete, but it persists with the unified resilience of the people of Tohoku and beyond.

^{Field work in}^{Shizugawa, Minamisanriku in the summer of 2011. / Photo by Matt Bunza}

From 2011 to 2014, the MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative (forerunner of eTOPOS) worked on the frontlines with three communities in Minamisanriku, Miyagi-ken: Utatsu, Baba-Nakayama, and Iriya. Each project became a “Stage for All,” responding to the urgent need for informal places to gather outside their temporary shelters and share a cup of tea. It was not so much about the things that were built but the people who created these labors of strength and unity.

Two girls sitting at a table surrounded by a canopy, in the alley of a temporary housing site. — *^{The youngest generation in Baabadoru 5-chome, Utatsu. / Photo by Shun Kanda}*

With the bare minimum of a bench, a table, and a canopy in an alley of a temporary shelter site, we worked with the residents of Baabadoru 5-chome 「バーバドール5丁目」to build a stage for all in the midst of dystopia. The local grandmothers (baba) brought their favorite pastries to sweeten the conversations.

The Garden Pavilione project, an airy wooden shelter with a bamboo porch — ^{All generations meet in the Garden Pavilione, Baba-Nakayama.}

A memorial and gathering place assembled from tsunami debris found among villagers’ homes became the Garden Pavilione 「ガーデンパビリオーネ」. Fishermen and other survivors of Baba and Nakayama villages, with volunteers from all over Japan, created a temporary stage for all during this post-disaster state of limbo.

Two women looking out over a field from a bamboo platform — *^{Reconnecting to the}*^{satoyama of Iriya}*^{, the land between mountain and field.}*

A prominent boulder anchored a stage for all atop a bamboo platform, Rinrin Popolo 「りんりんポポロ」. Marked by the Big Rock overlooking the rice fields and mountain afar, it is a place to enjoy the calm together, to imagine their future in the days ahead.

These vibrant people fuel the power of these places. Our collaborations continue. Collective strength and creative energies are at work, in hopefully planning and building for the next generations –

BEYOND 3.11.

~ eTOPOS, March 2021

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Title image: A renewed ecological vision for Minamisanriku, restoring people to place, home and the sea. / Rendering by Karin Schierhold

Events commemorating the 10th anniversary of 3.11

Posted on 2021-03-092021-03-10 by eTOPOS

This week we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 3.11 triple disaster in Tohoku, Japan, remember all of those who were and who continue to be affected on the long road of recovery. We have created a list of events, many of which will be streaming in the US and in Japan:

Shun Kanda will be presenting at the following events:

Global Discussion: A Japanese Placemaking Primer for US and Global Practitioners

Friday March 12th from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm ET /
Saturday March 13th, 8:00 am to 9:30 am JT

The panel is part of Placemaking Week Japan 2021. Although this series focuses on placemaking and public space, Shun will be sharing about our work in Japan over the years, including post-3.11 collaborations with local communities in Tohoku. One of the event’s coordinators, Tina Govan, is an MIT MArch alumna and a former student and colleague of Shun’s.

IPPO x 365 x 10 — 10 Years from the Triple Disaster

Saturday March 13th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm ET

Shun will be presenting in this 10th anniversary panel hosted by archiPicnic, reflecting alongside other designers and architects on frontline recovery efforts over the last decade. Filmmaker and photographer Jake Price will also be sharing. Jake joined us in 2013 for a community project in Iriya, Japan, and produced a video documenting the rebuilding process.

See the event page to RSVP. (Content in English.)

Other events, which will be updated over the course of the week:

Remembering March 11, 2011: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Wednesday March 10, 2021 at 6:00 pm ET /
Thursday March 11, 2021 at 8:00 am JT
Presented by the U.S.-Japan Council

Mayor Jin Sato, who we worked with as part of the MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative, will be part of the panel of speakers. See more information on our collaboration here.

MIT Starr Forum: 3.11 Ten Years Later: Disaster and Resilience

Thursday March 11, 2021 at 4:30 pm ET

Miho Mazereeuw, MIT professor of architecture and urbanism, will be presenting. The MIT Center for International Studies funded much of our initial work as part of the MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative.

Footprints and Footsteps: 3.11 and the Future of Tohoku, a panel discussion

Thursday March 11, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET
Hosted by the Japan Local Government Center