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The Post-3/11 Quest for True Kizuna - Shi no Tsubute by Wagō Ryōichi and Kamisama 2011 by Kawakami Hiromi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Tamaki Tokita
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Abstract

The reconstruction efforts following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (3/11) have sparked a rediscovery of the concept of kizuna (literally, “bonds between people”). Some Japanese authors, however, are contesting and expanding on this notion as a way of coming to terms with the disaster. Through the analysis of two literary works, I argue that 3/11 literature provides a model for Japan's emotional and physical reconstruction through its resourcefulness and alternative vision of kizuna.

Keywords

Great East Japan EarthquakeTohoku earthquakeFukushimaliteratureTwitterreconstructionfiction
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 13 , Issue 7 , February 2015 , e7
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2015

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References

Notes

1 Established in 1984, the Shingo Ryūkōgo Taishō (“the grand prize for new and popular words”) is awarded to the top ten vogue words of the year, chosen by a committee of seven judges from a pool of public nominations.“Kanji” are the Chinese-derived ideographic characters used in Japanese, alongside the hiragana and katakana syllabaries.

2 Tsuruoka Masahiro, “Sekai no ‘Kizuna’ ni Kansha: Shushō, Kakkoku Yūryokushi ni Messēji Kōkoku” [Thanking the World for their ‘Kizuna’: PM Sends Message Advertisement to Major International Newspapers], Asahi Shimbun Digital, 12 April 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2014.

3 Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society. “2011 nen ‘Kotoshi no Kanji’” [2011 ‘Kanji of the Year’]. Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society Website, 2011. Retrieved on 23 March 2014.

4 Nadeshiko refers to the pink Dianthus flower (Cayrophyllaceae), which is said to symbolise Japanese femininity.

5 Saitō Tamaki, “‘Kizuna’ Renko ni Iwakan” [Feeling Uneasy with the Repetition of ‘Kizuna‘]. Mainichi Shimbun, 11 December 2011.

6 Sugimoto Yoshio and Ross Mouer, Nihonjinron no Hōteishiki The Formula of NihonJinron], Tokyo, Chikuma shobō, 1995, p. 198. See the rest of the book for an in-depth analysis of the development of Nihonjinron.

7 Amy Chavez, “Hey, Look! No Loot!” The Japan Times 26 March 2011. Retrieved on 29 January 2014; Susan Donaldson James and Russell Goldman, “Japanese, Waiting in Line for Hours, Follow Social Order After Quake” ABC News, 15 March 2011. Retrieved on 29 January 2014; Ed West, “Why is There No Looting in Japan?” The Telegraph 14 March 2011. Retrieved on 29 January 2014.

8 An example of this is: “Kaigai ‘Nihonjin ni Kokoro kara no Keii o’: Shinsai Ji no ‘Nihon no Tamashii’ ni Gaikokujin Kandō” [The World Sends their Heartfelt Respect to Japanese People: Foreigners are Touched by the “Japanese Spirit” Displayed After the Earthquake], Pandora no Yūutsu [Pandora's Gloom], 5 June 2013. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.

9 Saitō, “Kizuna”.

10 Richard J. Samuels, 3.11: Disaster and Change in Japan, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2013, p. 40.

11 Azuma Hiroki, “Shinsai de Bokutachi wa Barabara ni Natte Shimatta” [The Disaster Broke Us Apart], Shisō Chizu Beta 2 [Thought Map Beta 2], 2011, p. 12. Also see English translation: Azuma Hiroki, “The Disaster Broke Us Apart”, trans. Matsuyama Naoki, Shisō Chizu Beta 2 [Thought Map Beta 2], 2011, p. 220-223.

12 Azuma, “Shinsai”, p.14.

13 Azuma, “Shinsai”, p.14.

14 Wagō Ryōichi, and Kamata Minoru, “Taidan: ‘Ganbarō’ de Naku ‘Akiramenai’” [Interview: ‘Don't Give Up’ Not ‘Hang in There‘], Fujin Kōron Women's Review], vol. 96, no. 25, 2011, p. 59.

15 It should be noted here that it is possible to say a lot more in a tweet (which has a 140-character limit) in Japanese than is possible in English.

16 For more information about Shi no Tsubute and a translated excerpt, see: Wagō Ryōichi, “Pebbles of Poetry: The Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, vol. 9, iss. 29, no. 4, 18 July 2011. Retrieved on 20 March 2014, from http://japanfocus.org/-Jeffrey-Angles/3568. For an in-depth analysis of Wagō's use of Twitter, see: Takushi Odagiri, “The End of Literature and the Beginning of Praxis: Wagō Ryōichi's Pebbles of Poetry”, Japan Forum, vol. 26, no. 3, 2014, pp. 361-382.

17 Wagō Ryōichi, “Hito to Chikyū ni Torubeki Katachi o Anji Seyo: Shi no Tsubute to Iu Basho kara” [Suggesting to People and the Earth how they Should Be: From a Place Called Shi no Tsubute], Gendaishi Techō [Journal of Contemporary Poetry], vol. 54, no. 8, 2011, p. 130.

18 Wagō Ryōichi, Shi no Tsubute. Tokyo, Tokuma Shoten, 2011, p.11 (trans. Jeffrey Angles). All further translations from Shi no Tsubute are my own.

19 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 11.

20 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 129.

21 Wago and Kamata, “Taidan”, p. 60.

22 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, pp. 68, 74 and 210.

23 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 22.

24 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 106.

25 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 68.

26 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 48.

27 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 141.

28 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 141.

29 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 213.

30 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 208.

31 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 227.

32 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 190.

33 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 235.

34 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 49.

35 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 210.

36 Wagō Ryōichi, “Chosha ni Kiku: Wagō Ryōichi Shi no Tsubute” [Ask the Author: Wagō Ryōichi Shi no Tsubute], Chuō Kōron Central Review], vol. 126, no. 88 2011, p. 247.

37 Wagō Ryōichi and Azuma Hiroki, “Fukushima kara Kangaeru Kotoba no Chikara” [Thinking From Fukushima About the Power of Words], Shisō Chizu Beta 2 [Thought Map Beta 2], 2011, p. 187. The video version of this talk is available at: “Nico Nama Shisō Chizu 01 Wagō Ryōichi X Azuma Hiroki” [Niconico Live Thought Map 01 Wagō Ryōichi and Azuma Hiroki], Niconico, 30 May 2011. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.

38 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 64.

39 Wagō and Azuma, “Fukushima kara Kangaeru”, p. 187.

40 Fukuma Kenji and Wagō Ryoichi, “Daishinsai no Toshi, Shi no Ima o Kangaeru: Aoi Ie, Soshite, Shi no Tsubute Sanbusaku kara” [Thinking About Poetry Today in the Year of the Great Earthquake: Aoi Ie, and the Shi no Tsubute Trilogy], Gendaishi Techō Journal of Contemporary Poetry], vol. 54, no. 11, 2011, p. 18.

41 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 261.

42 Wagō, Shi no Tsubute, p. 263.

43 Although the bear will be referred to with male pronouns here, the gender of the bear is not stated in the novel.

44 Kawakami Hiromi, Kamisama 2011 God Bless You, 2011], Tokyo, Kodansha, 2011, pp. 29, 31 and 36; All English translations for Kamisama, Kamisama 2011 and the postscript are works of Ted Goossen and Shibata Motoyuki, taken from Elmer Luke and David Karashima, March was Made of Yarn: Writers Respond to Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami, London, Harvill Secker, 2012, 37-53.

45 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, pp. 5 and 23.

46 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, pp. 6 and 24.

47 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 13.

48 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, pp. 9-10.

49 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 29.

50 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 30.

51 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 10.

52 Kawakami Hiromi, “Sōjō no Chushoku” [The Luncheon on the Grass], in Kamisama, Tokyo, Chuō Kōron Shinsha, 1998, 175-92.

53 Kawakami Hiromi, and Mitsuyoshi Numano, “Sekai wa Yuragi, Genjitsu to Gensō no Sakaime mo Yuraide Iru: Nihon Bungaku no Hon'yakuka tachi to Shōsetsu Kazahana o Kataru” [The World is Shaking, and the Border Between Reality and Fantasy is Being Blurred: Discussing the Novel Kazahana with Translators of Japanese Literature], Japanese Book News Salon, Japan Foundation, 2012. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.

54 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 39.

55 Kawakami, Kamisama 2011, p. 43.

56 For an in-depth exploration of the “I novel” genre, see: Edward Fowler, The Rhetoric of Confession: Shishōsetsu in Early Twentieth-century Japanese Fiction, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1992.

57 Kawakami and Numano, “Sekai wa Yuragi”, unpaginated.

58 Takahashi Gen'ichiro, Koisuru Genpatsu A Nuclear reactor in Love], Tokyo, Kōdansha, 2011.

59 Takahashi, Koisuru Genpatsu, p. 210.

60 Takahashi, Koisuru Genpatsu, p. 211.