Seismic Japan: an on-site experiential learning course exploring the science and culture of earthquakes

By Alex Bates

In the summer of 2013, a colleague in Earth Sciences and I led an experiential learning trip to Japan for a course titled “Seismic Japan: The Science and Culture of Earthquakes.” I am a specialist in Japanese literature and film with a scholarly interest in representations of the 1923 Kantō Earthquake and my colleague, Pete Sak, is a geologist specializing in plate tectonics. The idea was to bring together our expertise to provide a unique interdisciplinary learning experience for our students, one that explored the science behind earthquakes as well as the impact of seismicity on Japanese culture. This article gives an overview of the course and information for others interested in doing something similar.

We had sixteen students from six different countries, ranging from rising sophomores to rising seniors for the four-week program. Just over half were East Asian studies majors or students of Japanese, some of the others had been exposed to geological concepts, and the remainder applied because they were interested in Japan. Some of our time in Japan was spent in the classroom at our partner institution, Nanzan University. This time in class was devoted to an overview of Japanese geography, basic geological concepts and the history of earthquakes in Japan. The GLGArcs.net website explains how the subduction zone adjacent to Japan both helped form the islands and also leads to its volcanoes, hot springs and frequent earthquakes. Though we spent two sessions on Buddhist concepts of disaster and the Ansei earthquake of 1855, the majority of the class was focused on earthquakes after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Interspersed with the class time were various field trips exploring geological evidence of prehistoric seismic activity and specific sites related to the earthquakes we discussed in class. It would be possible to provide background in a regular class before departure and concentrate the time in Japan on the field trips or perhaps incorporate some of these ideas as modules in a more general short-term study abroad program.

The upper step is from the 1855 quake, whereas the lower step is the more recent uplift from 1923.

The upper step is from the 1855 quake, whereas the lower step is the more recent uplift from 1923.

A key part of our study of seismicity was a trip around the Bōsō Peninsula to help understand Japanese earthquakes in terms of geological time. There, we could observe the uplift of the coastal rock, tsunami deposits far inland, as well as dramatic evidence of an earthquake millions of years ago. On the coast we could see evidence of erosion, followed by dramatic sudden uplift associated with both the 1855 Ansei Earthquake and the 1923 Kantō Earthquake. Students were then able to look up the hillside to see a recurring history of the uplifts that formed the Bōsō Peninsula. Further evidence of seismic activity can be seen in a geological roadside park.[i] The excavated embankment preserves the result of an underwater landslide from millions of years ago.

The chaotic formations visible at the roadside park

The chaotic formations visible at the roadside park

Yuzuru Yamamoto, a JAMSTEC geologist, discovered this unusually chaotic rock strata formation and hypothesized that it was the result of liquefaction following a major seismic event.

The exposed fault in the Neodani Fault Museum. The darker rock shows an uplift of about six meters

The exposed fault in the Neodani Fault Museum. The darker rock shows an uplift of about six meters

The first modern earthquake we examined in detail was the 1891 Nobi Earthquake. Students read excerpts from Gregory Clancey’s Earthquake Nation, which covers the role of Japan in the development of seismology as well as the cultural role played by earthquakes in the Meiji era. When the 1891 earthquake struck, Japan was in the midst of questioning its wholesale acceptance of western technology. The visual culture of the aftermath contrasted the spectacular destruction of modern brick buildings with standing traditional buildings to call attention to the folly of the foreign architects and the ingenuity of traditional craftsmen. The inland fault that ruptured causing the Nobi quake was unusual, because most of Japan’s earthquakes are caused by slippage along the plate boundary off the coast. Due to its location, it is possible to visit the site of the rupture in Motosu, Gifu prefecture, and see how the earthquake shaped the landscape. Such a visit is even more fruitful because the Neodani Fault Museum has preserved an excavated section of the fault, a rare opportunity to examine evidence of underground seismic movement. (For more information on the museum, see the glgarcs.net website.) The six-meter shift in the rock helped students comprehend the intensity of the quake. There, we had students practice their observational skills and draw upon their classroom knowledge to describe what they were seeing in the exposed earth. The museum collection of contemporary photos, maps, images and books also helped students see further evidence of Clancey’s argument.

For the Kantō Earthquake of 1923 and the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995, we were able to visit the memorial museums dedicated to each disaster. Of the two, the museum in Kobe was the most accessible to foreign visitors. Many of the interpretive signs were in English and several of the volunteers spoke English as well. There were other school groups in the museum on the day we visited, a regular occurrence, and we were able to discuss the prominent role given to disaster education in Japan in contrast to many other countries. Students particularly appreciated the personal stories of survivors and the way the museum recreated a post-disaster street scene. In conjunction with this visit, we read some of Murakami Haruki’s stories about this earthquake. I have discussed two of these stories in an article for Education About Asia, available here.

The Earthquake Memorial Hall, designed by Itō Chūta

The Earthquake Memorial Hall, designed by Itō Chūta

The Kantō Earthquake Memorial Hall and museum required a bit more explanation. Gennifer Weisenfeld’s chapter on “Remembrance” in her book Imaging Disaster provided the perfect catalyst for our conversation. There, Weisenfeld outlines the debates over the memorial and the outcry over the initial Western-influenced design due to its lack of “ethnic characteristics” (274).

This discussion connects back to Clancey’s argument and the way the East/West dynamic can impact earthquake memory. The book also helped us think about the objects displayed in the adjacent museum. Weisenfeld points to the way that “burned and mangled bicycles gesture to absent riders” (288). Students wrote their responses to individual objects on the class blog. One student explained how an object as simple as a damaged pen takes on new meaning when it is displayed in a memorial museum.

 

Either of these museums could add a disaster related dimension to more general study tours of Japan. To do so would require a mere half-day excursion as part of a visit to their respective cities. If both of the museums are included, then a comparison of the two would be fruitful. The Tokyo museum and park is centered on memorialization, whereas the Kobe museum is primarily geared toward education.

Before travelling to Tōhoku to discuss the March 2011 disaster, we provided context through lectures and articles (Blandford and Ahn; Ewing and Murakami; Ritsema et al.; Satake and Atwater). We also had students read some recent works of literature available in the collection March Was Made of Yarn. We all read “Island of Eternal Life” by Tawada Yōko, along with a few other stories. We discussed Tawada’s use of science fiction and history to posit an alternate future that strangely resembled the Edo period. The story suggests that scientific “progress” could ironically cause a national regression if nuclear power and government ran unchecked. After the class discussion, students presented on works of their choice from the Waseda Bungaku website. Students were able to see the range of literary responses to the disaster and discuss how each author responded in her or his individual way.

We also explored one response through visual art during a visit to Shibuya station, the site of the giant mural “Myth of Tomorrow” by Okamoto Tarō. This cold-war era anti-nuclear bomb mural was modified soon after the disaster by the guerilla art group Chim↑Pom.

Okamoto Tarō’s “Myth of Tomorrow”

Okamoto Tarō’s “Myth of Tomorrow”

In a work titled “Level 7” (after the most serious level on the nuclear disaster scale), Chim↑Pom added an image of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant to the corner of the painting, modifying Okamoto’s message to speak to the recent catastrophe. Linda Hoaglund has provided context and a series of links about the art group and their politics in her Japan Focus article The videos of Chim↑Pom’s various post 3/11 activities, accessible through Hoaglund’s article, would help to discuss artistic responses to disaster without a trip to Japan, but it was impressive to stand before the mural itself.

Map of Matsushima bay.

Map of Matsushima bay.

The trip to Tōhoku was the most moving part of the program. Our first stop was Matsushima, whose bay full of pine-covered islands is one of the most famous scenic spots in Japan. There was very little trace of the tsunami or the earthquake in Matsushima. As we walked thorough the town with our students, we pointed out remnants of the disaster that could easily be overlooked. There were recent memorial markers, sidewalks warped by liquefaction, and an historic tree whose root system had been damaged by the salt water. There was little evidence of the tsunami on our boat tour of the bay as well, but the guide showed images of how some rock formations were altered by the shaking and the waves and salt water had killed trees on one or two of the islands as well. The lack of damage in Matsushima allowed us to discuss why that might be the case. The shape of the Matsushima bay resulted in a less powerful wave and the many islands helped dissipate the energy.

The same effect on a larger scale can be seen in a simulation by the  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The video demonstrates how Papua/New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, for example, protected Australia from the full impact of the waves.

The Minamisanriku Disaster Preparedness Building makeshift memorial.

The Minamisanriku Disaster Preparedness Building makeshift memorial.

From Matsushima we went to Minamisanriku, one of the communities most devastated by the tsunami. The contrast was striking. One difference was accessibility; we were unable to make it all the way to the city by train, as the line servicing much of the coast in the area remained impassable. No matter how many times students may have seen photos, video or satellite imagery, it could not prepare them for the shock of seeing a city literally wiped away. The fact that the pre-tsunami population was similar to that of Carlisle (approximately 18,000) helped put the devastation in context. The shape of this bay concentrated the waves making them higher than other areas. Hotel Kanyō arranged for a bus tour of the devastation the morning after our arrival (only available in Japanese). Our guide had lost his home and everything in it, but his young family was saved. We saw makeshift memorials, heard stories of people who sacrificed themselves to warn others, and signs of revitalization in a temporary shopping area.

While I felt the tour was valuable for our students, I was a bit conflicted about the “disaster tourism” aspect. Nevertheless, we were able to have a fascinating discussion following the tour that touched on the complicated ethics of “disaster tourism.” Students noted that while making money from a disaster was troubling, the educational merit and the employment opportunities it provided for the dispersed community were not easily dismissed. It was one of the best discussions we had in the class.

This program allowed for experiential learning that would not be possible otherwise. There were countless serendipitous moments when an artifact in a museum, a geological formation or a chance encounter with an earthquake survivor or volunteer led to deep discussions. In the final evaluations, students remarked that these trips and the individuals we encountered helped them “think more deeply about earthquakes and their impact on people,” in the words of one student. Another commented that the trip to Tōhoku would have a “life-long influence” on his or her life. These comments suggest the importance of understanding disaster through standing face to face with its effects rather than through the abstraction of news reports.

Photos courtesy of Emily Pawley

Class Projects:

There were two major projects in the course. The first was a joint presentation with Nanzan University students in a class on American politics. For this project, our students researched governmental response to disasters in Japan and the Nanzan students researched the same in US disasters. They then shared what they learned with each other to come up with a group presentation comparing the two. We had presentations on disaster warning systems, the differing responses from government bureaus and NGOs, post-disaster housing and unemployment. Students appreciated the opportunity to work with Nanzan students and noted their thoughts on the class blog.

The final project was a group poster and presentation focused on one of the earthquakes we studied. Students outlined the science of what happened, what people learned from the disaster, and how it impacted the culture. One group included a student’s own interpretation of the disaster through poetry.

Links:

Class blog (no longer active)

Museums:

The Neodani Fault Museum

This museum has very little in English, but it provides a unique opportunity to see a major fault exposed.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial Museum

This museum has information in a variety of different languages, and is very accessible to English speakers. It is particularly useful in describing the role disaster education plays in Japan.

Kantō Earthquake Memorial Hall and Museum

Most of the signs are in Japanese, but there is much to discuss in this museum, especially in conjunction with Gennifer Weisenfeld’s book.

Edo-Tokyo Museum

This museum, close to the Kantō Earthquake Memorial, provides information on disasters in the Tokyo area along with other useful information about the city. It gives context to the smaller earthquake museum next to the Earthquake Memorial Hall.

Other useful websites:

The Geology of Japan

This website provides geological background on Japan and includes possible sites for geological field trips, but, in most cases, access is difficult without a car.

Japan Meteorological Agency

This site includes detailed information on earthquakes, Japan’s particular seismic intensity scale and the early warning system. It is useful for explaining the array of networks and institutions that help Japan deal with its frequent earthquakes.

Nagoya City Information on Disasters

Most local governments have information on local disaster preparedness in English. For one assignment, students explored the information available online to determine a disaster plan for our group. While this site is for Nagoya, any reasonably sized city should have similar information and maps outlining the evacuation centers. An earthquake disaster plan is important for any trip to Japan, but making one was a fascinating learning activity.

NOAA simulation of the 2011 tsunami

In this video, Dr. Eddie Bernard narrates a simulation of the wave generated by the March 11 earthquake. The video clearly shows how islands act as tsunami barriers.

 

Bibliography

Bates, Alex. “Catfish, Super Frog, and the End of the World.” Education About Asia 12, no. 2 (2007): 13-19.

Blandford, Edward and Joonhong Ahn. “Examining the Nuclear Accident at Fukushima Daiichi.” Elements 8, no. 3 (2012): 189-94.

Chim↑Pom and Linda Hoaglund. “The Suddenly Relevant Activist Antics of Artist Collective Chim↑Pom: Challenging Japan’s Nuclear Power Agenda.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 10, no. 30.3 (July 23, 2012):(accessed October 10, 2013).

Clancey, Gregory K. Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868-1930. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

Ewing, Rodney and Takashi Murakami. “Fukushima Daiichi More Than One Year Later.” Elements 8, no. 3 (2012): 181-82.

Ichikawa Makoto, ed. “Japan Earthquake Charity LiteratureWaseda bungaku (September 11, 2011): l (accessed October 10, 2013).

Luke, Elmer, and David Karashima. March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown. New York: Vintage Books, 2012.

Ritsema, Jeroen et al. “The 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake.” Elements 8, no. 3 (2012): 183-88.

Satake, Kenji and Brian Atwater. “Long-Term Perspectives on Giant Earthquakes and Tsunamis at Subduction Zones.” Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 35 (May 2007): 349-74.

Schencking, J. Charles. The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction in Japan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

Smits, Gregory. Seismic Japan: The Long History and Continuing Legacy of the Ansei Edo Earthquake. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013.

Weisenfeld, Gennifer. Imaging Disaster: Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.


[i] The park is just off the Yasubō Green Line, just before the tunnel. It was through the efforts of Yuzuru Yamamoto that the embankment has been preserved as a geological point of interest. GPS Coordinates: 34.923146, 139.904515

 

 

Resilience: Protecting Today

On April 13th, a group of professors and students collected in Althouse to view a documentary titled “Resilience: Protecting Today,” about the 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami. The Japanese title is Kyou-o mamoru, and was created and directed by Ms. Yuka Kan’no, a junior at Yamanashi Prefectural University, who hails from Rikuzen-takata city in Iwate. Her home city was annihilated by the seismic event and tsunami in March 2011. At the suggestion of Professor Tetsuji Maezaawa, she made this documentary, which focuses primarily on interviews with the survivors from her town. Some topics covered include food shortages and aid administration difficulties, environmental damage such as water contamination, the wasting of aid supplies, and social issues developed due to the disaster, among others.

Post-Doctoral Fellow in East Asian Studies in the Environment

Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment

Dr. Zhuang Kelin, a post-doctoral fellow supported by the Luce grant, is soon to come to Dickinson College to teach about paleoclimatology, including climate change and river systems in China. Professor Zhuang is from Qingdao and has a PhD from Texas A&M. He will be teaching ERSC311-01 Paleoclimatology of East Asia as a one-time only course in the Fall of 2013. The course is interdisciplinary and has no prerequisites.

The Vase Project

Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment

Turns of the Wheel/Strokes of the Brush: Landscapes and Cityscapes
In a Changing Chinese Environment: The Jingdezhen Vase Project

In her much-praised The Vase Project Professor Diduk asked one hundred local Jingdezhen artists to each paint one white porcelain vase. Each artist was given a blank vase and asked to respond to the preceding artist painter’s vase.  They were asked to interpret the vase imagery, incorporating their own individual painting styles in the pieces, but not to copy it, since mimetic copying is the usual painting method practiced.  The first painter in the Project responded to a small drawing that incorporated kiln stacks along with the always familiar historical landscape image. In this case the inclusion of manufacturing was intended to reflect the current contemporary scenic landscape in Jingdezhen today. Taken as a kind of ceramic quilt or kaleidoscope, the vases help viewers see what the city was like before and during modern industrialization and the process whereby artists shifted their attention from imperial and scholar-elite or merchant patrons as customers to hotel chains in need of crockery, foreign tourists in search of China’s past, and Chinese consumers trying to keep up-to-date in a rapidly changing material culture.  As her collaborative project demonstrates the ongoing evolution of the city in its environmental policies (switching from coal-fired to propone kilns for example) proves, there is a forward-leaning outlook among Jingdezhen artists, activists and ordinary residents even as the community struggles to preserve Jingdezhen’s artistic legacies. The city that produced The Vase Project is in the throes of transitioning from a rugged, dirty, small manufacturing center consisting of workshops and smallish factories, into up-to-date manufacturing facilities and a center of modern ceramic art.  The waning of ceramic making traditions in Jingdezhen is best understood both in global context (this is not the first time that craft traditions have been reshaped by new markets, technologies and artistic sensibilities and health and environmental concerns) and the local realities that contribute to such powerful turns of history in unique, culturally colored and inflected forms.

In the summer of 2015, a group of students will travel to Jingdezhen on a study-trip, which will provide even more critical insight into the culture surrounding ceramics in Jingdezhen.

Seismic Japan

Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment

Seismic Japan is a summer study group examining the history, culture and science of earthquakes in Japan. This course is intended to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the science and culture of earthquake in Japan, one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world. Through lectures, class discussions, field-trips, student exchanges, meetings with scientists, students will come to appreciate the complex history of human interaction with the destructive forces of the earth in Japan. We hope this will encourage interdisciplinary interaction and allow students outside the department to experience Japan. In the long term, we hope this will make Japan more visible on campus, especially in the sciences. We will have field trips to various sites to observe the geology and the devastating impacts of seismicity, do labs to understand the science behind earthquakes, read fiction that was inspired by earthquakes and more.

Seismic Japan is overseen by Professors Alex Bates and Peter Sak

Alex Bates is an assistant professor at Dickinson College specializing in modern Japanese literature and film. He graduated with his BA from Brigham Young University and has a PhD from the University of Michigan. Professor Bates is currently revising a book manuscript focused on how authors and filmmakers represented the 1923 earthquake that destroyed Tokyo.

Alex Bates

 

Peter Sak received a  BA in Geology from Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA) where he conducted research in southern Ontario and the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan.  After graduating, he worked for the USGS (Water Resources Division) and as a consulting geologist in Seattle, WA before completing his graduate studies at Penn State University.  His PhD research focused on the tectonic and landscape evolution of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  Currently Sak is an associate professor and chair of the Earth Sciences Department at Dickinson College.  He has diverse research interests spanning from low temperature aqueous geochemistry, to classical structural geology, to landscape evolution. Recently, Sak sailed as a sedimentologist on IODP expedition 334 (offshore of Costa Rica) where he quantified rates of subduction erosion inboard of the sub ducting Cocos Ridge. He is a past councilor of the Council for Undergraduate Research Geoscience Division and a member of the U.S. Advisory Committee for Ocean Drilling. He has active research projects in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Costa Rica, and Guadeloupe.

 

Seismic Japan Lecture February 27th

Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment

Andy Moore gave a private colloquium on the 26th of February to a group of professors involved in our new Seismic Japan program. On Wednesday February 27 at 4:30 in Denny 317, he gave a public lecture on the same topic. He discussed Japan’s history with earthquakes and tsunamis as well as their resilience to natural disasters.

Members of the colloquium are currently reading selections from Gregory Clancey’s Earthquake Nation.earthquake nation

Featured Image: 2011 Japan earthquake aftermath.

 

If you missed the lecture, here’s what happened:

The lecture centered on tsunami preparedness and how the enormous preparations still allowed the deaths that occurred. The lecture did so by examining such cities as Arahama, Taro, and Sendai. One of his major points was that the coastline was actually quite prepared for a natural disaster, but perhaps the wrong one. He spoke extensively on Japan’s preparation for a tsunami similar to that of 1960 despite the widely known fact that much larger tsunamis had hit Japan in the past. Why didn’t they prepare for the largest tsunami they knew was possible? Smaller topics discussed were sea walls and their effectiveness, coastal forest barriers, and cultural faith in engineering.

Andy Moore is a sedimentologist currently teaching at Earlham College in Indiana. He obtained his undergraduate degree in geology from Carlton College where he filled his distribution requirements primarily with courses pertaining to Japanese culture. He obtained his masters degree and PhD from the University of Washington, where he worked with geologist and tsunami expert Brian Atwater. After years of sedimentology and tsunami research, he turned his focus to cultural perceptions of natural disasters and now wishes to understand the human side of disaster readiness.

At the colloquium: topics discussed included Japanese tsunami history, geological causes of the 2011 tsunami, engineering preparations, and extra-cultural analogues (like the Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina). A handful of professors, all experts in their fields, discussed these topics over dinner. The preparatory readings were Gregory Clancey’s “Earthquake Nation” and a chapter about the Korean panic from Dickinson Professor Alex Bates’ book in progress.

Post Image: Gregory Clancey, Earthquake Nation, cover.

Photo Credit: Aurora Wetherill

Want more information on our Seismic Japan program? Visit our Seismic Japan page!

Bonsai Specialist February 28th

Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment

Dickinson College has recently constructed the new Stafford Green House attached to Kauffman Hall, in which there are now bonsai plants. On February 28th, the Stafford Greenhouse made its debut with a bonsai class. Jim Doyle, a local bonsai expert, taught Professor Tom Arnold’s plant physiology class and Professor Bates’ class on nature and the environment in Japanese literature and film about the noble bonsai. The students learned the basics of bonsai by working firsthand with young junipers. Jim also brought other more mature bonsai plants for educational purposes. He showed the students what can happen with long-term commitment to this beautiful and meditative art. The Luce Initiavtive on Asian Studies and the Environment grant provided the funding for Jim Doyle’s time, making it a joint effort between the Stafford Greenhouse and the Luce Initiative.

Jim Doyle, our local bonsai expert, runs Nature’s Way Nursery in Harrisburg and is a highly sought after bonsai teacher.

As the event has passed, here are some highlights and photos!

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Jim Doyle, a local horticulturist, came to Dickinson College to share his love of bonsai with a lucky group of plant physiology students. He brought 15 small juniper trees, each about 6 years old. He began the lesson by explaining that he originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but began work at a plant nursery while in college and fell in love with horticulture, and eventually bonsai. He describes bonsai as a continual adventure.

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What makes a good bonsai?

Jim says that rounded apexes, a short distance between the branches, and small foliage are the keys to a good bonsai.

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Looking for more information on bonsai? Visit our bonsai page!

Photo Credit: Aurora Wetherill and Tom Arnold.