This Sunday is the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastline of northeastern Japan and killed more than 15,000 people.
In January, the central government announced that it would hold a memorial service on March 11 at the National Theater, which faces the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo. The ceremony will be attended by the prime minister and "bereaved family members." Normally, the Emperor and Empress would attend a ceremony of such significance,saler4ds but in view of the Emperor's continued health problems since his recent heart surgery it now seems unlikely that he will be present. Some foreign ambassadors may also be in the auditorium, which can hold around 1,500 people.
The hall, which normally presents traditional theater performances, is not big enough to hold everyone who would like to participate. For that the government would need something the size of Tokyo Dome, but the ceremony, or at least parts of it, will be broadcast live on NHK. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the Cabinet Ministry originally thought of holding it in the stricken region but decided against doing so because the governments in that area are planning to have their own "official" memorial services, and a number of localities in the region held their own services last Sunday. In any case, there are plans to set up a video link on March 11 in the National Theater with the official ceremonies to be held simultaneously in the three prefectures that were most affected by the disaster — Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate.
The ceremony starts at 2:30 p.m.bicyclelight, and though the general public is not invited, anyone can offer floral tributes at the National Theater from 4:30 p.m. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has suggested everyone in Japan — "wherever they may be" — observe a minute of silence at 2:46 p.m., the time at which the earthquake struck on Friday, March 11, 2011. Conveniently, the anniversary happens to fall on a Sunday, so most people who wish to observe it in their own way will be able to do so without having to worry about interfering with work.
However, some people may prefer to observe it by not observing it. At this point, it's understandable if they feel overloaded by the tragedy. It's one thing to acknowledge the ongoing work of rebuilding lives in the Tohoku region and determining who was responsible for any lack of preparedness, but it's quite another to have to relive those terrifying moments over and over again.
Nevertheless, if it has been difficult to avoid the subject for the last year, it will be nearly impossible this weekend. NHK and the commercial broadcasters have already started filling the airwaves with memorial-themed programming that will peak on Sunday. Between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m., TV Asahi will devote all of its air time to remembrance under the theme of "Tsunagaro! Nippon!" ("Come together! Japan!"). The other commercial stations aren't going quite so all-out — Fuji TV seems to be sticking with its normal variety show-oriented schedule — but unlike Asahi's more or less news-documentary approach, they'll dilute the heaviness of memory with more nominally entertaining aspects, such as pop collective Exile's concert "for Japan" on TBS (10 p.m.),goodledstrip and boy band Tokio's live broadcast of their visit to Dash Village, the farm in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, that lies within the radiation belt around the damaged nuclear reactor and which the band had been developing for more than a decade. Additionally, master explainer Akira Ikegami will recount the particulars of the disaster Saturday night at 9 p.m. on Fuji TV, and NHK will rebroadcast Saturday at midnight its special, originally aired last Sunday, consisting of amateur videos and photographs of the quake and tsunami as it happened, many of which had never been shown on TV before.
For those who prefer remembrance events of a more involving nature, there are plenty to choose from. Almost every Buddhist temple in the country will have a dedicated ceremony, and even if they don't, one of the main purposes of a visit to a temple is communing with spirits. It is often pointed out that Japanese people only become Buddhists at funerals (and Shintoists at weddings), where the implied presence of the deceased is sanctified. Mourning (tsuitō) thus takes on more than just the adaptive work of accepting someone's material demise.
The German writer Thomas Mann once pointed out that a person's "dying is more the survivor's affair than his own," and there's no dishonor in acknowledging that a huge component of grief is the mixture of guilt and relief one feels at outliving those you mourn. The official ceremony on Sunday is meant to have collective resonance, so when the prime minister mentions that people can observe the anniversary in their own way wherever they are, he means to say that they all participate. Though as a concept group mourning is hardly limited to Japan,bestlighting-led in Japan it could be said to have the approbation of authority. Local governments throughout the land will also be holding their own anniversary ceremonies.bicyclefrontlight
If Tokyo seems to have more of these kinds of events than anywhere outside of Tohoku, it has to do as much with the city's heightened sense of vulnerability since the disaster as it does with its greater concentration of people and functions.
In January, the central government announced that it would hold a memorial service on March 11 at the National Theater, which faces the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo. The ceremony will be attended by the prime minister and "bereaved family members." Normally, the Emperor and Empress would attend a ceremony of such significance,saler4ds but in view of the Emperor's continued health problems since his recent heart surgery it now seems unlikely that he will be present. Some foreign ambassadors may also be in the auditorium, which can hold around 1,500 people.
The hall, which normally presents traditional theater performances, is not big enough to hold everyone who would like to participate. For that the government would need something the size of Tokyo Dome, but the ceremony, or at least parts of it, will be broadcast live on NHK. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the Cabinet Ministry originally thought of holding it in the stricken region but decided against doing so because the governments in that area are planning to have their own "official" memorial services, and a number of localities in the region held their own services last Sunday. In any case, there are plans to set up a video link on March 11 in the National Theater with the official ceremonies to be held simultaneously in the three prefectures that were most affected by the disaster — Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate.
The ceremony starts at 2:30 p.m.bicyclelight, and though the general public is not invited, anyone can offer floral tributes at the National Theater from 4:30 p.m. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has suggested everyone in Japan — "wherever they may be" — observe a minute of silence at 2:46 p.m., the time at which the earthquake struck on Friday, March 11, 2011. Conveniently, the anniversary happens to fall on a Sunday, so most people who wish to observe it in their own way will be able to do so without having to worry about interfering with work.
However, some people may prefer to observe it by not observing it. At this point, it's understandable if they feel overloaded by the tragedy. It's one thing to acknowledge the ongoing work of rebuilding lives in the Tohoku region and determining who was responsible for any lack of preparedness, but it's quite another to have to relive those terrifying moments over and over again.
Nevertheless, if it has been difficult to avoid the subject for the last year, it will be nearly impossible this weekend. NHK and the commercial broadcasters have already started filling the airwaves with memorial-themed programming that will peak on Sunday. Between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m., TV Asahi will devote all of its air time to remembrance under the theme of "Tsunagaro! Nippon!" ("Come together! Japan!"). The other commercial stations aren't going quite so all-out — Fuji TV seems to be sticking with its normal variety show-oriented schedule — but unlike Asahi's more or less news-documentary approach, they'll dilute the heaviness of memory with more nominally entertaining aspects, such as pop collective Exile's concert "for Japan" on TBS (10 p.m.),goodledstrip and boy band Tokio's live broadcast of their visit to Dash Village, the farm in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, that lies within the radiation belt around the damaged nuclear reactor and which the band had been developing for more than a decade. Additionally, master explainer Akira Ikegami will recount the particulars of the disaster Saturday night at 9 p.m. on Fuji TV, and NHK will rebroadcast Saturday at midnight its special, originally aired last Sunday, consisting of amateur videos and photographs of the quake and tsunami as it happened, many of which had never been shown on TV before.
For those who prefer remembrance events of a more involving nature, there are plenty to choose from. Almost every Buddhist temple in the country will have a dedicated ceremony, and even if they don't, one of the main purposes of a visit to a temple is communing with spirits. It is often pointed out that Japanese people only become Buddhists at funerals (and Shintoists at weddings), where the implied presence of the deceased is sanctified. Mourning (tsuitō) thus takes on more than just the adaptive work of accepting someone's material demise.
The German writer Thomas Mann once pointed out that a person's "dying is more the survivor's affair than his own," and there's no dishonor in acknowledging that a huge component of grief is the mixture of guilt and relief one feels at outliving those you mourn. The official ceremony on Sunday is meant to have collective resonance, so when the prime minister mentions that people can observe the anniversary in their own way wherever they are, he means to say that they all participate. Though as a concept group mourning is hardly limited to Japan,bestlighting-led in Japan it could be said to have the approbation of authority. Local governments throughout the land will also be holding their own anniversary ceremonies.bicyclefrontlight
If Tokyo seems to have more of these kinds of events than anywhere outside of Tohoku, it has to do as much with the city's heightened sense of vulnerability since the disaster as it does with its greater concentration of people and functions.
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