On January 28, 2023, the EAA “Fukushima Field Trip” took place. The exceptional aspect of this fieldwork was the participation and interaction of students from both Peking University (PKU) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo). After enduring the challenges of the pandemic, PKU students were able to attend in-person classes at UTokyo from the start of the Fall semester, making it possible to organize joint field trips like this one.
One the day of the trip, a group consisting of four PKU students and four UTokyo tutor students, and several EAA members including ISHII Tsuyoshi (EAA Deputy Director), Chang Cheungyuan (Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), KOO Yoojin (EAA Project Lecturer), and WATANABE Rie (EAA) gathered safely at Tokyo Station at 7:30 a.m. to embark on a day trip filled with anticipation and subdued excitement. We spent a packed day visiting the Interim Storage Facility, the Tomioka Archive Museum, the Decommissioning Archive Museum, and a city tour led by a local storyteller. Below are reflections on how this day trip touches our students from both universities: memories of the earthquake, the feeling of being present at the locations shown on TV, contemplating “life and death” in the face of natural disasters, the way of describing “hope” in disaster-affected place in the context of a thirty-year time span. It will become our “memory” as of January 2023, and it’s thrilling to imagine how the seed of this memory will sprout and grow across China, Japan and the rest of the world, transcending both space and time.
KOO Yoojin（EAA Project Lecturer）
Report
Dai Tingyu Peking University (CN)
Huan Binghao Peking University (CN)
Jiang Jiaming Peking University (CN)
Zhou Zhangchi Peking University (CN)
Kaname MORI The University of Tokyo (EN)
大石直樹 The University of Tokyo (JP)
田中亮也 The University of Tokyo (JP)
豊嶋駿介 The University of Tokyo (JP)
