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Narrating the cultural trauma of 3/11: the debris of post-Fukushima literature and film

2014; Routledge; Volume: 26; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09555803.2014.915867

1469-932X

Rachel DiNitto,

Narrative Theory and Analysis

AbstractImages of debris dominate our understanding of the 3/11 triple disaster – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown – that took place in Japan on 11 March 2011. They have been effectively used to rewrite the story of individual suffering into one of collective tragedy. In this article, debris is a locus for examining the construction of the narrative of 3/11 as cultural trauma. The article analyzes three texts that deal directly with images of 3.11 debris: Fujiwara Toshi's documentary film No Man's Zone and two short stories: Murakami Ryū's 'Little eucalyptus leaves' (Yūkari no chisana ha, Citation2012) and Saeki Kazumi's 'Hiyoriyama' Citation(2012). Fujiwara interrogates the position of the viewer via images of destruction, Murakami connects 3/11 to the multidirectional memory of other global traumas like Auschwitz, and Saeki constructs a local narrative that contrasts the personal experience of the disaster with a televisual or filmic representation. These texts are engaged in the cultural work of constructing 3/11 as collective trauma. They create a collective identity, a 'we', for this trauma that speaks both for and against the national narratives of recovery. This article examines images of debris around the one-year anniversary of 3/11 and speculates on the concurrent lack of images of bodies.Keywords: 3/11Fujiwara ToshiMurakami RyūSaeki Kazumi Notes1. For 3/11 these slogans were supported by both the government and mass media, as well as by individuals adding 'badges' to their personal profile images on social networks. For more on social media and 3/11, see Slater et al. Citation(2012). The 3/11 disaster also echoes 9/11, especially in the use of slogans. For 9/11, the national was evoked through the local: 'We are all New Yorkers.'2. Murakami does critique the Japanese government, TEPCO and the Japanese themselves later in his speech.3. See, for example, Neil Young's (Citation2012) review of the film from the Berlin Film Festival.4. Nornes notes that the pan of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been replaced by the trucking shot of 3/11. 'The tsunami films are chock full of lengthy shots photographed from moving vehicles' (Nornes Citation2011). Fujiwara also employs trucking shots, but the landscape shots arguable define the movie. Fujiwara himself notes that the use of a tripod and his concentration on the landscape was what differentiated him from standard media footage (Fujiwara Citation2012).5. See Arpon (Citation2012), Morris (Citation2011), Nornes (Citation2011) and 'Grief of Japan quake' (Citation2011).6. I have retranslated the passages marked in italics for purposes of analysis.7. Nornes gives the example of the film Tsuchioto by Okubo Yui, a local from Iwate Prefecture who combined home movies from before the disaster with interviews with his family after 3/11. Unlike the intrusive interviews in films by outsiders like Lives after the tsunami and 311, Nornes finds the interviews in Tsuchioto to have 'the intimacy of home movies' (Nornes Citation2011).8. For more on the politics of debris disposal, see 'Eco-Model City' (Citation2012).9. See, for example, the opening scenes of Lucy Walker's film The tsunami and the cherry blossom which incorporates amateur video footage shot during the tsunami. There are similar videos on YouTube.10. As of April 2013, over two years later, there has been very little clean-up in areas heavily affected by the earthquake and tsunami. 'In municipalities like Rikuzentakata, Kamaishi and Ōfunato that were slammed by the massive tsunami, only 37 percent of the concrete, debris and household materials that litter the ground has been picked up so far' (Aldrich Citation2013).Additional informationNotes on contributorsRachel DinittoRachel DiNitto is an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at the College of William & Mary, and the author of Uchida Hyakken: A critique of modernity and militarism in prewar Japan (2008). She has written on the literary and cultural studies of Japan's prewar (1910s–1930s) and post-bubble (1990s–2000s) eras. This article is part of a new book project on the literature written in response to the 11 March 2011 disaster in Japan. She may be contacted at rxdini@wm.edu