Life Beyond the Tohoku Disasters: Autonomy and Adaptability in Coastal Japan

The book explores the lives of Japanese fishers and community residents in coastal Japan after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, providing a unique opportunity to hear their reflections and experiences. It contextualizes local culture and fishing livelihoods and highlights the importance of attachment to places and seascapes, connections with others, and shared traditions. It also reveals the heartbreak of the disasters and the strain placed on individuals and coastal communities when national policymakers fail to use good governance when rebuilding.

Format: Hardback
Length: 212 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2024
Publisher: Lexington Books

This book delves into the lives of a group of Japanese fishers and community residents in coastal Japan following the devastating 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and its subsequent tsunami. It focuses on one town in Miyagi Prefecture, near the epicenter of the disaster, and offers a rare opportunity to hear the perspectives and experiences of individuals directly affected by the events, as well as drawing upon anthropological fieldwork data collected 10 years prior to the disaster. Alyne E. Delaney skillfully contextualizes the local culture and fishing livelihoods, highlighting the significant impacts of disaster reconstruction policies on local society. She illustrates the importance of individuals' attachment to their places and seascapes, their connections with one another and shared traditions, and their sea-connected working ways of life. Delaney's book goes beyond the heartbreak of the disasters and the strain placed on individuals and coastal communities when national policymakers fail to use good governance during rebuilding. It also provides insights into how some have managed to recover and learn the wisdom of knowing what real happiness is, offering readers an enlightening discourse of the potency of the local cultural traits of autonomy and adaptability.

Weight: 535g
Dimension: 237 x 161 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793616555