3/11

While production for the fan maligned live-action Akira adaptation may have screeched to a halt as of January 5, 2012, Otomo Katsuhiro–the original creator for the manga and anime–is ever busy with an upcoming art exhibit at the 3331 Chiyoda Arts Centre in Tokyo, Japan, showcased between April 9th to March 30th, 2012. The Genga Exhibition, as it is called, already has a catalogue available for pre-order on Amazon.co.jp.

So far, unpublished art for Kaba 2 will be showcased alongside pieces from his other work.

In addition to that, a special discussion will occur live on UStream between Katsuhiro-san, Blood: The Last Vampire‘s Katsuya Terada, and Perfect Blue‘s Hisashi Higuchi on April 9th, 8 p.m. Japan local time.

Guests are required to purchase their tickets in advance at Lawson’s convenience stores for admittance at a designated time. What’s better is that this is an opportunity to geek out for a good cause. Thirty percent of ticket proceeds go towards helping victims of the 3/11 Earthquake.

Nothing’s set in stone, but I’ll definitely try to make it out there sometime in April or May and report further on the exhibit.

Tickets are on sale 1500円 for adults, 800円 for students, and 500円 for junior high school students. For more information, visit 3331 Chiyoda Arts homepage or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

6-11-14 Sotokanda Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 101-0021
TEL：+81(0)3-6803-2441 / FAX：+81(0)3-6803-2442 / E-MAIL：info@3331.jp

A book released has the huge title of Yakuza and The Nuclear Industry: Diary of An Undercover Reporter Working at the Fukushima Plant (ヤクザと原発-福島第一潜入記-鈴木-智彦). With that title you can figure out that it’s a tell all.

Yet today, theatlanticwire published an article that is frightening. It tells of the corruption that takes place in a company (TEPCO) that’s partially responsible for the nuclear meltdown. Yes you can’t prevent a giant tsunami wave that crashed your buildings and caused three meltdowns, but you can come clean about what’s going on and who you’re hiring – which then translates into where the donation money is going. Yet, it’s been going on for years, and only now that this problem occurred is it something we care about. Who are these yakuza members? Supposedly 3 of the Fukushima 50 are Yakuza members and their relationship with nuclear companies is nothing new. The reconstruction efforts are all joint with Yakuza based construction companies. (Atlanticwire – TEPCO Yakuza)

This isn’t a Top Ten list like “Best Concert, Best Movie, or Best Toy”. It’s a list that’s as important and there are highlights in them all, but by no means is it a Top Ten of anything. They’re just important as everything else – family, friends, and so on. Maybe I’ll try and turn out a list that’s more like that…

 We painted the mural on the wall. That alone was an 11 hour project. 

Zen Garage – The year started off great with the Zen Garage art opening just a few days before the new year. Yet, the actual New Year’s Day kicked off with the Oshogatsu program at JANM. It was motor vehicles including the Giant Robot Scion Car I designed but also custom motorcycles and the now vintage David Choe Scion. Thanks to Len Higa and Shinya Kimura for jumping on board. The year began with a GR show in a museum – it’s a great start with you get to do a project with friends, new friends, and a place like JANM. Collaboration can be more fun than doing something alone.

 It’s great when artists install their own work. 

James Jean Art Show – Aside from it being one of the greater or even greatest art shows of the year, it also indelibly marked the night that the earthquake struck Japan. I recall, it was at the after party, the twitter messages were beginning. An 8.9 quake? The thought of a giant quake was one thing, yes there would be lives lost and yes a lot of damage, but less than an hour later, the Tsunami hit the shores and that’s when the things got real, it became internet news for days straight.

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 Aya Takada during one of her kids programs

It was just a couple of years ago that filmmaker Shunji Iwai brought his niece, Aya Takada to GR2. When the giant Earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, she was the only person I knew from the Sendai area. When I asked Shunji Iwai about Aya, he said straight faced, “I thought they all died.” Yet days later, he found out they were all fine except the gallery flooded. Then in some time, a Facebook status update said something like, “cleaning up the gallery”. Since then, Birdo Flugas which is located on the first floor of her family’s home is cleaned up and Aya is working hard on her space, projects and public programs. The photos tell the story as well as those are at the bottom of the page.

GR: You run a gallery in Sendai of all places. Can you tell me about your neighborhood? Did it change after 311?

AT: My gallery is located in a small city called Shiogama, near Sendai (about 30 minutes away). Shiogama is a port town. After 3.11, many shops and houses were torn down. Less buildings are around birdo space now. There’s more vacant lots. Compared with the other affected areas, Shiogama was less damaged because the Urato islands were protected the city.

GR: Your gallery was flooded in the tsunami of 311. Can you tell me about that time? Where were you? What you were thinking about? How bad your gallery was affected? (at left is the family home and the gallery at the bottom)

AT: I was working at my gallery “birdo space” at 2:46pm on 3/11, as usual. The quake was crazily big. The gallery shook badly. The racks and shelves fell down one after another, I thought the building itself would collapse at a stretch.

My gallery is located near the Shiogama Port, like about 150m from the port. I heard the tsunami alert soon, saying “3m Tsunami is coming..etc” urging to head for higher ground. I didn’t think it would happen, but then the alert was saying “6m tsunami is coming…” and then “10m tsunami is coming…” Then finally I felt something weird and dangerous. I went to see my family (near the gallery). We decided to run to my brother’s apartment (12th floor). There was about 40-50mins until the tsunami actually arrived in Shiogama. When I arrived my brother’s apartment, I opened the window right away. The tsunami arrived. The road and streets we just passed were flooded.

I was shaking while looking at what was going on, in front of me.

I went to see the gallery next day, the building itself was fine, but the fallen artworks, products, racks and shelves, books, office data, my bike, and cars were all soaked with sludge.

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Here’s a little more about the google street views of post Earthquake Japan. 44,000 square miles were reshot just to have a record of what happened. Here’s our link to the story along with the viewer. The NPR story actually has before and after views which are sobering and somber. If you don’t know how to use it, just drag the man icon in the left corner to the blue line in the road (zoom in first), then you get Street View and from there just navigate. We randomly picked a spot, and it looked like the photo below. (google – Miraikioku)

If you can’t wait, watch from the 2 minute mark and see how Japan has been getting rocked in 2011. It’s actually scary and this is only graphics. The sheer quantity that’s taking place in just a single area seems unprecedented. This seems near unbelievable.

Could it be washing up in Torfino? Some signs look like it, and the fella who’s been seeing these pieces speaks with great restraint and is open to any answer. The pieces of wood seem too clean and new, and containers from China don’t quite support the story, but who knows. It’ll wash up eventually.

Whaling continues, but now they’re using earthquake funds at the sum of $29 million. Sure some of the whalers were affected, and we suppose they deserve to have some compensation, but there are plenty of folks who probably haven’t received a cent yet, and whaling comes first? The stories just continue. (USA Today – Whaling)

Article about Japanese who fled the quake, nuclear zone to Okinawa. From March to August, 17, 521 moved to Okinawa which then begs the opposite question, how many moved from Okinawa to those zones? The stories of the health of some of the children are horrifying and it’s the exact info that you don’t hear much about on the news. Hopefully the fresh air and beaches of Okinawa will heal a little, but it seems doubtful. All of the news never points to the affects of the radiation and fallout, and small articles like this are what it’ll take to get some words out. (SMH – Okinawa)

There’s not much more to say except policing the applicants might be better. Not all will return found safes and money. It was in the amount of $200,0o0. Imagine the applicant who is a yakuza and gets to the “are you a yakuza?” Question? (LA Times – Yakuza)

Katsunobu Sakurai the mayor of Minamisoma who was named top 100 influential persons thanks to his YouTube video which got the word out that his town needed financial support is now under fire. Some say that the fame has gone to his head. The town is 15 miles from Fukushima and it’s been reported that 8% of the land in Japan has too much Cesium (we’re not quite sure how bad it is), it’s obvious that his town of Minamisoma has to be part of the 8%. He’s still pushing for people to come back and live there, so he’s facing scrutiny. Either way, it’s another great way for him to get in the news to renew some interest in his town, which he’s fighting to rebuild. (LA Times – Minamisoma)

Japan’s Science Ministry reports that 8% of the country’s surface is contaminated. Surely, it’s possible, but really? The report looks thin but who knows. (ABCau – 8%)

Ganbaro Nippon! “Pray for Japan” is number 13. There’s plenty of words that relate to the tsunami and earthquake. It’s a great list and fascinating. Imagine that there’s new words being used in all countries every year. Most of it relates to technology or science, but this one is about a disaster that was so huge to one place that it changes and added to the vocabulary. We’re sure it’s happening in Thailand from flooding and elsewhere. (Gakuranman – 60 words)

More on the Debris. A photo photos and a video at the link. Yes the crew pulled up a Fishing boat that mentioned Fukushima on it, so it’s exactly from one of the disaster areas. Three years until it hits Hawaii. (Yahoo – Tsunami Debris)

That’s more than a billion dollars. “The amount will cover compensation for mental sufferings of victims as a result of evacuation and to pay for the losses incurred by small businesses following the nuclear disaster.”

Is this even enough? A billion sounds like it’ll go down in a second. (Tokyotimes – Billion)

A concert took place at the Hollywood Bowl with headliners Yellow Magic Orchestra or YMO. Much of the crowd were into Japanese culture, but surely had no idea who they were. Granted, openers like Cibo Matto or Towa Tei at the DJ tables, or even Buffalo Daughter may have clued people in, but did they know that YMO is a huge part of music history in Japan? Ryuichi Sakamoto was the front man of the band, Cornelius was an unnamed session guitar player, Haruomi Hosono, another legend, also in the band. Guessing that most probably didn’t know this. The show still went off well, people liked the music, and Yoko Ono did her best to ruin the evening.

Yet Ryuichi Sakamoto, known for his electronics and bending sound is now going on an acoustic tour including piano, violin and a cello. His reasoning has more to do with getting back to the basics after 311. He ties the simplicity to the post and pre 311 problems to people’s isolation in Japan, including Hikikomori, a large group who never leave their homes. (Telegraph UK – Ryuichi Sakamoto)

So many months later after the 3/11 tsunami earthquake disaster and the stuff that floated away is being tracked and found. The boat below was found and it’s a Fukushima based fishing boat. It’s still a slow ride. Midway island is a two year wait, the main land west coast of America, three years. International Pacific Research Center at University of Hawaii is tracking this junk as it travels and becomes part of the gyre. (Our Amazing Planet – Debris)

Why did some survive and some not? This video explores that. It’s long form so relax and watch this one. It’s in a few parts.

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

$130,000 in a toilet that was ear marked for earthquake / tsunami donation was found in a toilet! Since it was found in a city government office and anonymous, perhaps it’s drug money! Or something that was found or stolen, but then again, perhaps it’s just a good person. (voa – toilet)