Cheerful Humors: Changes in Japan after the Disaster

After the tremendous natural disasters of 11/3/2011, Japan has been in urgent need of actions for reconstructing our society.

Right after the earthquakes, many countries are astonished that Japanese people dealt with the matters so calmly and cool-headedly without big panic or disorder. Thanks to you, we realized characteristics of Japanese.

And I want to suggest one idea as something helpful for reconstruction, "cheerfulness" which I found in old Japanese people. This "cheerfulness" is the sense of humor, not to think about things too seriously, but to accept and enjoy the present situations.

In this Pechakucha, firstly I will introduce Japanese “cheerfulness” while reflecting back on old Japanese life, and show some of today’s efforts to overcome the difficult situations after the earthquake disaster. Those efforts have a little bit of wit and humor, which indirectly tells us why these efforts are necessary, motivate people working for reconstruction, and make us find something we have never found. In those cheerful and innocent humors, We hope to find signs of evolution to our new sense of values.

Contributors:

• Satoshi Kageyama
• Hideaki Shirane
• Wakako Kitamura
• Eiko Ikeda
• Shiho Ishihara
• Yoichi Sugiki