International Conferences

“Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami One Year Later: How Can We Bring Closure to Crises?”
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
March 11-12, 1012
A conference on the one-year anniversary to address the many issues raised by the natural and nuclear disasters, their aftermath, and their surrounding histories. Diverse experts explored these questions in terms of economics, business, law, disaster response, religion, social activism, and history. The overall focus of the conference and the Meridian 180 online forums was the question of how to bring closure to such crises. This question was explored in terms of economics, business, law, disaster response, social activism, and history. The Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture celebrated its 10 year anniversary and official launch of the Meridian 180 project on the last day of the conference. A video recording of all the proceedings is posted here:

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“Hope beyond the Disaster: New Thoughts and New Firms”

Yuji Genda, University of Tokyo

“Saving TEPCO: Financial Market Activism in Post-Fukushima Japan”

Hirokazu Miyazaki, Cornell University

“Market Totalitarianism”

Annelise Riles, Cornell University

“Between Hope and Nostalgia: Reconstruction in a Coastal Town of Iwate Prefecture”

Shuhei Kimura, Fuji Tokoha University

“Modernity as Mirage: Oceanic Frontiers and Rural Development in Pre- and Post-Fukushima Japan”

Satsuki Takahashi, Princeton University

“Asbestos Disasters in the Great East Japan Earthquake”

Hiroyuki Mori, Ritsumeikan University

“Kizuna (bonds) after the Great East Japan Earthquake”

Chika Watanabe, Cornell University
Ms. Watanabe will introduce and present short excerpts from a pre-recorded video interview with [Pre-recorded Video] Keiko Kiyama, General Secretary, NGO JEN (interviewed January 20, 2012)

“Religious Communities in Japan Respond to the Tsunami”

Jane Marie Law, Cornell University

“Political Amnesia and Disorder in Post-3/11 Japan”

Shigeki Uno, University of Tokyo
A Dialogue with Tokyo-based Cornell Alumni Regarding the Role of Professionalism and Expertise in Japan’s Reconstruction Effort

MODERATORS

Hirokazu Miyazaki, Cornell University (in Ithaca)
Annelise Riles, Cornell University (in Ithaca)

TOKYO PARTICIPANTS

John Whitman, Cornell University (in Tokyo)
Jotaro Fujii (Hotel School, 1981), a Tokyo-based food service and restaurant management consultant
Takayuki Kihira (Law School, LLM, 2006), Mori, Hamada, Matsumoto Law Office, Tokyo (in Ithaca); and
Shin Sakurai (College of Architecture, Art and Planning, 1993), Kume Sekkei, Tokyo.

PANEL MODERATORS

“Fukushima within the Configuration of the U.S. Cold War Strategy: The Question of Power in Relation to Knowledge Production.”

Brett de Bary, Cornell University
Naoki Sakai, Cornell University
Professor Sakai will introduce and present short excerpts from two pre-recorded video interviews with: [Pre-recorded Video] Ichiyo Muto, Co-President, People’s Plan Study Group (interviewed January 4, 2012) and [Pre-recorded Video] Yukio Yamaguchi, Co-Director, Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo (interviewed January 5, 2012)

“Post-Fukushima Japan and New Dimensions of Protest”

Steffi Richter, University of Leipzig

PANEL MODERATORS

J. Victor Koschmann, Cornell University
Susumu Hirano, Cuo University, and Visiting Scholar, Cornell Law School
“TEPCO and Japan’s Nuclear Compensation Act.”
Cornell University, Ithaca n March 11-12, 2012
“Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami One Year Later: How Can We Bring Closure to Crises?”