Moving Forward: Life after the Great East Japan Earthquake

March 4–April 15, 2012

On March 11, 2011, a devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of northeastern Japan, triggering a tsunami that sent waves as far as six miles inland. This traveling exhibition commemorates the victims and the struggles of the survivors, and highlights the reconstruction and recovery efforts. Featuring a series of large-scale photographs and photographic essays in text and audio form, the exhibition—scheduled to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the quake—focuses on the stories of the people recovering from the disaster in the Tohoku area, and how the people of Japan are dealing with this difficult situation and helping one another in their day-to-day lives. This exhibition debuted in Washington, D.C. in November 2011 and will appear at the Rockefeller Memorial Church in Chicago in January 2012 before this Fowler presentation.

Press Release

Moving Forward

Exhibition Credits

This exhibition is co-organized by the UCLA Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies and The Kahoku Shimpo newspaper, and guest-curated by Hitoshi Abe, director of the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies and chair of UCLA’s Department of Architecture & Urban Design. Sponsored in part by the Japan Business Association of Southern California (JBA) and the Japan Foundation and supported by the U.S.—Japan Council. Special recognition is also extended to the Tohoku Gakuin University Volunteer Station Translation Project team, Mari Ishida, Timothy Unverzagt Goddard, and Saran Oki.

The weekly changing installation of ikebana that graces the start of this exhibition has been generously provided by Satsuki Palter from the Ohara Ikebana Society, Los Angeles chapter, in honor of the people of Tohoku.