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A Museum of Memories

DC372322Documentary

よみがえる街の記憶~陸前高田博物館再開~ [NHK]

|Length : 30min |Year : 2023

A Museum of Memories
The Rikuzentakata City Museum, which was devastated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, reopened last fall. The only surviving curator, Kumagai Masaru tirelessly rescued and restored displays while facing calls to "look for people first.” But his belief that “cultural assets are indispensable for true reconstruction” kept him going. His determination to pass down community memories to the future was reaffirmed through a stuffed Kingfisher donated by local children. This led to a miracle upon the reopening of the museum.

Alone No More: A Family Journey with My Auntie

DC372321Documentary

ひとりじゃない 家族になったボクとおばちゃん [MMT]

|Length : 46min |Year : 2023

At the age of 7, Keisuke Henmi faced the devastating loss of his entire family in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture. Orphaned and alone, Keisuke was taken in by his aunt Reiko Hino (51 at the time), and they started their new life on the second floor of Keisuke’s home in Ishinomaki. For Reiko, who had experienced a childless divorce the year before, this marked her first venture into parenthood. As Keisuke was very fond of his father, Reiko decided to take over the auto shop that his parents ran despite her lack of experience.
Years later, Keisuke fixes upon a dream in high school—to inherit the family shop. In 2022, he graduated high school and enrolled in an automotive technical college, having been determined to become an auto mechanic. For over 10 years since the earthquake, we followed this nephew and aunt as they gradually forged a new “family.”

Landslides and Deforestation -Moving Towards Future Forest Development

DC372220Documentary

テレメンタリー2021 土砂災害と森林伐採-民家に迫る危険 [KHB]

|Length : 25min |Year : 2022

Every year in Japan, typhoons and low-pressure fronts usher in heavy rains.
In October 2019, Typhoon Hagibis caused extensive damage in eastern Japan. In Marumori Town of Miyagi Prefecture alone, landslides occurred in 173 locations, leaving 12 people dead or missing. Why did the landslides occur one after another? An on-site investigation revealed that in some cases, the landslides were caused by "clearcutting," the complete removal of trees from large areas of forest. While the government is promoting a policy of subsidies to boost lumber productivity, experts on forest management and law have sounded the alarm, saying that large-scale logging is taking place on steep slopes and areas close to homes, triggering disasters.

Baton of Memories

DC372119Documentary

テレメンタリー「記憶のバトン」 [ABC]

|Length : 27min |Year : 2021

Yoko Nakajima (68), painter and teacher at an art studio in the city of Kobe, brought cheer back into the lives of children there who had lost their smiles after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 by having them paint pictures. When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011, unable to sit by doing nothing, she packed art supplies into her car and headed for the devastated area of Northeast Japan. Because school gymnasiums were being used as morgues and other buildings were unusable, she held art classes outdoors, on school campuses. For years thereafter, she continued to travel to the devastated area using art as a tool in her effort to rebuild the lives of the children and bring them cheer. One of the schools she visited was Hashikami Elementary School in the city of Kesennuma. Momoka Goto and Kaede Iwabuchi, who were first graders at the time of the disaster, still have clear memories of that day. In 2018, they participated in a memorial event for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe. Seeing the children of Kobe attending the memorial and how the devastated city had bounced back, the two girls began to feel that they wanted to do something for Kesennuma, so they started storytelling activities that would talk to people about what had happened in 2011. 2021 marked the 10-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Many of the planned events had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in November 2020, Ms. Nakajima paid a visit to Kesennuma. She planned to pass on to Momoka and her classmates, now high school students, a figurative “baton” that embodied their hopes for the rebuilding of their town….

Battling a Radiation Emergency

DC372018Documentary

ETV特集 誰が命を救うのか~医師たちの原発事故 [NHK]

|Length : 59min |Year : 2020

Doctors break their silence on what happened at ground zero.
In the hours after Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident, medical specialists rushed to the scene. What they found was a region desperately ill equipped to handle an emergency of this magnitude. Local doctors initially hesitated, a result of the prevailing "Safety Myth." The national government was also blindsided, as confusion obfuscated the chain of command. Life and death decisions had to be made on the frontlines, from dealing with residents exposed to radiation, to treating injured members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces deployed to fight the explosion. The intense, overwhelming reality of medical care at ground zero is revealed through exclusive access to a vast, hitherto unseen collection of images and videos taken by the doctors themselves.

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