Panel Discussion Part 1“The Role of Museums in Remembering and Recording Tsunami”
Coordinator：Mayumi Sakamoto DRI Senior Researcher
Panelists：
Ramadani

Director, Aceh Tsunami Museum

Satoshi Kumagai

Senior Curator, Sea and Shell Museum, and Rikuzentakata City Museum

Hiroyuki Hashimoto Professor of Japanese Literature, Morioka University Literature Department

Sakamoto

Today’spanelists

have

close

connections

tomuseums in Tsunami Disaster areas. Through gathering,preserving and displaying documents and materials, we can think
about passing on the memories and lessons of disasters. There
are varies methods to preserve the memories of disaster and passthem on to future generations. By gathering, preserving, andexhibiting various items, museums have a unique ability to pass on
the lessons of disasters. One part of these activities includes the sharing the memories
and history of the region, and the story of recovery, through museum exhibits. Gatheringand preserving documents and materials is critical for holding exhibitions, which is thecore activity to transmit the knowledge and lessons of disasters. I would like to ask each of
the panelists, from museums in disaster area, to explain about their exhibitions, exhibition
methods or challenges they face.

Ramadani

I am the director of the Tsunami Museum in Aceh. The

Museum does not belong to Aceh or Indonesia, but I think it is reallya global museum. By sharing the experience of the Indian Ocean
Tsunami with visitors from around the world, I hope that themuseum to be useful in increasing awareness for disaster reduction.
Caused by an undersea earthquake of magnitude 9.2, the 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami caused record damage in Indonesia, SriLand, Thailand, and other countries. With over 250,000 casualties, the historicdevastation from this natural disaster is also much larger than anything we haveexperienced in Indonesia in recent years. Now, people in Aceh gather, speak about thedisaster, and with local learning the area has been recovered. After overcoming this great
disaster, and based on the live lessons from the disaster, people are moving forward. In a
strange way, we can say that the disaster was a blessing. Until that time, Aceh area had
suffered a long period of conflict, but after the disaster, everyone worked together towards

recovery. Government, infrastructure maintenance, and economic situations all improved.
It was a chance for us to remember that we are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where
disasters can easily occur.
I feel that with the activities of TeLL-Net, gathering and collecting the memories andinformation about the disaster, we mustn’t fail to share them. TeLL-Net reminds us of theimportance of our lives. Now, we want to future develop our museum with TeLL-Net
activities at the center of what we do.
The Tsunami Museum, symbol of the endurance of Aceh people in the face of the powerof the tsunami, was established with support from many countries. Hopefully it willcontribute to increased awareness of disaster risk around the world. The Aceh Tsunami
Museum is built on the concept of 3 principles: the disaster itself, religion, and culture.
From above, the form is like the tsunami, and the intent of the design is for visitors to recall
the tsunami of 7 years ago. The museum includes the meanings: connection between
people and the omnipotent God of the Islam faith; the connections between people; mutual
aid at the time of the tsunami; love; faith; and the Acehnese culture. The Aceh Tsunami
Museum includes the 3 spaces of fear, sorrow, and relief. In the first space, that of fear,
you can feel the terror of the tsunami. Next, in the space of sorrow, including images andthe wall, the names of the disaster survivors are shown, creating an experience of sorry.
The final space, that of relief, shows the support received from around the world, personal
experiences, and messages for disaster reduction such as TeLL-Net. Overcoming many
challenges, we want to strengthen the power of TeLL-Net towards a future with reduced
disaster risk.

Towards this goal, there is nothing more important than the support that we

received from around the world, including from Japan, and accordingly we hope for morecollaboration and cooperation with our Museum going forward.

Kumagai

Before I enter the discussion, I want to first express mygratitude for the really significant support we received from Kobe,
first of everywhere in Japan, after the Great East Japan
Earthquake.
From the point of view of Cultural Property rescue, I would like tointroduce our museum’s activities that are possible even without aphysical building. Cultural property rescue started about 3 weeks
after the disaster. At that time, there was a note left in front of the only room of themuseum that remained. It read “please don’t remove the museum materials. They are
precious and important for the nature, history, and culture of Takada,” and expressed
exactly how we were feeling.

At the bottom is said City Board of Education, but only 2 of the Board Members had
survived, so I think the person who wrote it was just a local resident. For us, this one piece
had a very heavy significance.
thFirst, on March 11 , there was really strong shaking that continued for about 6 minutes.
I evacuated to Rikuzentakata City Hall, and went up on the roof, but it was also covered bywater. The situation was that a 15 meter high wave, more like the sea itself, came. As ofthis year, Feb. 1, there were 1554 casualties, and 294 missing. 10 percent of residents,
and a third of city staff were killed; government functions were completely stopped.
The four cultural institutions--the Rikuzentakata City Museum, Rikuzentakata Sea and
Shell Museum, Rikuzentakata City Library, and Archeological Center—were all completely
destroyed, almost all the employees were lost, and I was the only curator who survived.
150,000 items from the Museum, 110,000 from the Sea and Shell Museum, and 700 boxes
and 500 bags of artifacts from the Archeology Center was found. Of the library’s 800,000
volumes, about 310,000 were rescued.
At the Sea and Shell Museum, display cases were deposited and left on the rafters. The
City Museum has a collection of 150,000 artifacts including those related to Natural History
and Civilizations, but at the time of the disaster, they were put into 2 cars and 2 houses.
In terms of just the building damage, it’s possible for the materials to survive, but withtsunami, they are washed away, and gathering them again is extremely difficult. The
exhibition rooms on the first floor, on the ocean side of the building, have almost no
windows. So the wall could somehow withstand the tsunami wave when it came, but thereceding wave which carried all the debris, entered, like a whirlpool, tore off the doors, andreceded.
Under the debris, the tsunami deposited sand more than 50 centimeters deep on thefloor. One by one, we dug out the artifacts of the sand.
For insect specimens in poor condition, the glass was gone, and a lot of sand hadentered the cases. Sea water had entered surprisingly few of the plant specimens thatwere each in their own plastic bag, and many could be rescued. We did not throw away
the sand that had been deposited on the floor, instead saving it in bags behind themuseum. Many artifacts were found after sifting through the sand.
We used an elementary school that had been closed since April last year, in themountains 16 kilometers from the downtown area, for preservation activities.
At first, we could only take the items still covered with sand and lay them out flat. Next, I
will talk about the long process to arrive as a processing situation that was stable
The sea near the Sanriku coast is originally clean water, and in a simple flooding
disaster, washing with fresh water would be enough, but this time everything had been

covered with flood water that was pitch black. First sterilization, then salt had to be
removed. At the minimum, labels were rinsed with tap water. Then, after drying, realpreservation or serious repairs could be done. This was necessary for about 310,000
items, which was completely overwhelming.
st

From the 1 stage of rescue to the 2nd, we received help from universities and researchfacilities, etc., from all over Japan. We especially relied on the network of other museumsin the prefecture, centered at the prefectural museum, to continue the rescue processes
smoothly.
At last years’ “Dinosaur Exhibit 2011” held at the National Science Museum, thesituation of cultural property rescued was explained in the 2ndexhibition room, including

the exhibition of rescued materials.
After that, Rikuzentaka children went to Tono City Museum as a field trip, and had theexperience of washing earthenware damaged in the disaster.

They could directly

experience the cultural treasures from their own hometown, and by touching them with
their own hands, hopefully could take home a little of the feeling that these special
treasures were saved from their town. In addition, we also created a mobile exhibit“Rikuzentaka City Museum Disaster Damage Situation.”
Through the themes of tsunami damage and the meaning of preservation of culturalproperty, we also recovered as a lending museum after the disaster.
At the current stage, I am not thinking about how to gather and exhibit the damaged
materials, but only try to understand what to take where; I think that our job is to just tocollect the materials.
A recovery that does not preserve cultural property cannot be called a real recovery.
The identity of Rikuzentakata is bound up with these materials. Life and cultural properties
exist together.
In terms of plans for exhibitions that including the fact of disaster damage, I think justbuilding a simple museum is not enough. We have the fact of suffering from the disaster,
but we have also received abundant blessings and culture from the Sanriku Sea. I thinkthat we need to acknowledge both our gratitude for the sea, but also pass on the messageof the scary aspect of the sea.

Hashimoto

Today, I want to talk about the exhibit I was involved in at the Misawa Folk

History Museum, as one way not to forget the disaster. There are many factors that
resulted in this exhibition being realized. First, damage in Misawa City was relatively light.
There was no cesium contamination, so this kind of exhibition was possible. As it is in the
nearby area, I think that is why it could have the first exhibition after the disaster dealing

with the Great East Japan Earthquake.
I am a member of the investigation committee for revitalization activities at the Misawa
Folk History Museum, so I was involved in recovery of the Museum. We thought of an
exhibition related to tourism, but after the disaster we felt that with the mission of themuseum towards society, we must do an exhibition dealing with the disaster.
Seeing the disaster situation of Misawa Bay, in discussion learned of the existence of amonument that says “Earthquake, rumbling of the sea, look! Tsunami.”
On the coast of Aomori Prefecture, after the Great Tsunami in 1933, Misawa City,
Hachinohe, Hashikami, etc. had relocated to higher ground. However, the monument was
dirty, under a plastic sheet, and in that condition it was hard to even know what it was. The
first phase of the exhibition was cleaning up the stone monument, and as planning for theexhibition continued, we focused on the challenge of using the stone monument to tell thelessons of the disaster.
The exhibition was realized with the cooperation of the fishing cooperative, in included
the message of promotion of Misawa’s finishing industry, and encouragement for thefishermen.
After entering the building, there is the cardboard monument made by volunteers.
At the entrance of the exhibition room, as a symbol for the future of the fishing industry
recovery, there was ‘large catch’ flag, the kind that is traditionally used by the fishermen. It
was illuminated by the light of a flashlight. It was not an exhibition space, but instead usedthe cooperative’s meeting room, as part of the space design concept. The walls werecovered with boxes used for harvesting squid, which had been picked up from the beach.
There was a pile of debris, and in the center a TV set that was made to seem like it was
broadcasting. Because we had used debris, the there was the strong stench of salt waterwith the garbage. It’s not possible inside a museum. There were real insects. If the exhibit
is moved somewhere in the future, it would need to be fumigated to avoid serious
problems.
In addition, the message “Earthquake, rumbling of the sea, look! Tsunami, at that time
I...”was presented.

Messages from Misawa, and to Misawa, could be written. The ability

for these messages to communicate with each other in and of itself was a significant
meaning for the exhibit. In the messages, there were for example “do your best, Tohoku!,”“strong connections,” typical almost clichéd comments, as well as messages that were
inappropriate, like “its like a Hollywood movie, amazing!” That was the actuation situation.
Frankly, there were many different voices, and we thought to share them.
We also displayed materials that were left after the 1933 tsunami. They can be said tobe valuable as cultural properties. As a permanent exhibition as well, we also establishedwith the theme “It’s true: a tsunami hit Misawa 80 years ago too,” a connection to apermanent exhibition that can continue.
To tell the truth, actually there were many problems with the exhibition. It was decided
after March 11, that the exhibit would be discarded. So many people shared the opinion
that that they wished it could be kept so that more people from all over Japan could havethe chance to come and see it. I think that it’s obvious that we have that mission. I think
this exhibition has that meaning for the children 50 years from now, or 100 years from now,
but of course the city office and managers also have their opinions, and my term of duty isover, so I don’t have a right to say anything. For sure, I would like to preserve it. For
example, couldn’t we move it to DRI or to a large museum in Tokyo or Osaka. Rather thanspending a lot of money on making replicas of debris, we have the real thing. This time’s
exhibition is made of things we rescued, from now, my appeal for all of you to rescue it.

Sakamoto

Mr. Ramadani and Mr. Hashimoto shared a lot of their experience with setting

up exhibitions. Especially, Mr. Ramadani, at last year’s TeLL-Net forum, explained how
they have a plan to make a museum, but face many challenges to open it. After that, canyou tell us about your activities leading up to the establishment of the museum?

RamadaniWith the support we received, we were able to make a museum, exhibits, andto open the museum. I am very grateful for that. For dealing with the problem of raising theneeded capital we used some creative methods. For example, we made our own
dioramas, introduce the activities of TeLL-Net, relied on local people’s involvement,
introduced local festivals. In addition, we had contests, etc., for the museum exhibitions.
Towards the involvement in telling stories, we involved young students in speech andessay contests.
Also, in the area where we live, is one where we have a high risk of encountering anatural disaster. So we must be continuously prepared, and especially to encourage
preparedness of the next young generation, we much pass on the lessons. For thispurpose, of course, along with the exhibitions of our museum, we also must use TeLL-Net
activities effectively, I think.
Towards these aims for the future, using our exhibitions to teach many things, we arethinking about how museum can become a place of education as well..

Sakamoto

In the Misawa Exhibit that professor Hashimoto created not only is there astrong feeling of handmade spirit, but at the same time, the 5 senses area also deeply
engaged, leading to a very unique combination. Please tell us about your motivations andmethods for creating this exhibition, and the challenges you faced along the way.

HashimotoI think that mission of the museum is to share these kind of memories with thenext generation, their children, and to pass on the information in a way that even people
who are unfamiliar can experience it. I feel very strongly that the museum can accomplish
this role. Without money, we just picked up items that exist. We thought about how toreach the 5 senses. With the darkness, using the flashlight, the smell of garbage and thesmall of saltwater, memories like “oh yeah, at that time we used flashlights, right,”willcome back. It was dark and scary, it was cold, are connected to our individual feelings,
and through our personal attachment, we can understand not through our brains, but
through the senses of our bodies, is the way I was thinking about the exhibit. For difficult
problems, there were the insects, but we shook that problem off.

Sakamoto

Disaster museums preserve and exhibit archeological relics; I think that Mr.

Kumagai and Prof. Hashimoto are the most familiar with the difficulties of this. For Mr.
Kumagai, at the RIkuzentaka City Museum, in the middle of a situation where all thematerials were destroyed, was involved in recovering these artifacts, can you tell us about
how your feelings being involved in these activities?

Kumagai

In my case, I was born and raised in Rikuzentaka, and got involved with themuseum when I was in High School. My university thesis was also about museum
practice, and had a strong emotional attachment to the museum, in a way you can say I
was partly raised by the museum. The backbone of the museum, the part facing theocean, we don’t know what hit it, is like a painful wound. When I see that, I think “Oh, thismuseum stood up against the powerful wave, although some were washed away toprotect its materials, it did its best to protect these objects that are precious for Takada.”
And somehow protected them. Between 70 and 80 percent of materials are estimated tohave been recovery. Of course, that doesn’t mean that all of them are in a condition thatthey can be displayed in an exhibition. The battle from now will be to see how many we
can restore, I think.

Sakamoto

Next, I would like to ask you about the issues surrounding the display ofdisaster damaged artifacts as exhibits, what you need to pay attention to, or what wasinvolved.

Kumagai

People from Tokyo are doing an exhibit at the Museum in Tono. At that time, Ireally debated about whether or not to contribute items to that exhibition. There was the
problem of mold. When we took the many old books and manga to the closed elementary
school, and put an electric fan on then because in any case they need to dry, all the papermaterials became moldy.
Paper materials will become stained, so they can’t be kept with other kinds of materials.
We made a request to the Bureau of Cultural Affairs Cultural Property Rescue committee,
and about 600 cardboard boxes worth, all the paper documents were put in cold storage ina freezer. In the meantime, we cleaned the school building and prepared them so they
could be used to process the materials, and eliminated bacteria. The most terrifying thing
for museum materials is mold, or insect damage. In this case because of the damage fromseawater, the processing method was probably the first example of its kind in the world.
Even experts of materials preservation did not have an established method for dealing
with this situation, which I think made it a very difficult and problem that we were involvedin.

Hashimoto

Many people visited the Misawa Museum from all over Japan, and we also

received a lot of positive feedback. There was criticism as well, and I think that it isimportant to pay attention to that too. For example, people from radiation contaminatedareas of Fukushima pointed out that there was no explanation of what happened or thecurrent situation in Fukushima. One couple said, it is a great exhibition and feels very
meaningful because it explains what can happen as a result of an earthquake disaster.
After that, visitors from Miyagi Prefecture said that they thought they would enjoy an
extraordinary world at the nearby Termoto Shouji Memorial Hall, but instead they could
see something really amazing. They said it’s like making a traditional Japanese ikebana
flower arrangement using gravestones. There was the comment, ‘isn’t it a is strange
exhibit!’ It is crucial that these comments are received sincerely. After receiving thosekinds of comments, a museum must continue activity while improving. We made andadded a new panel to explain the purpose of the exhibition.
One more thing, in the case of this kind of exhibit, is the difficultly with presenting aunitary view of the disaster area as the focus on an exhibition. It becomes seen in just thatway. That’s why from the beginning, our stance was that we are co-sponsors, along withthe fishery cooperative organization. With the desire to support the fishermen with theactual revival of their industry, we held to the principle that this exhibit was not ‘in the local
area’ but rather ‘exhibited with the local people.’ The largest problem with this kind of
project is, make no mistake, that the memorial stone that says “Earthquake, rumbling of
the sea, look! Tsunami” will not survive for 60 or 80 years. Will this exhibition survive is theissue.

If it ends after 3.11, if we stop, it is the end. That’s why I am thinking if we canmove it to somewhere like an empty room in a local school; and I’ve been asked by the
PTA to give a lecture about this too.
However, as I mentioned earlier, the management system is fixed, and the City’s
position is that the exhibit is garbage, and they would like it cleaned up soon. It’s anunbearable feeling, but the real situation. My biggest concern is how to maintain thisexhibition.

Sakamoto

The reality of creating a disaster museum is often the lack of materials at thattime. After going through the trouble and having the materials, I think we want to think of a
way to keep them. TeLL-Net and has been working towards the collection andpreservation of artifacts from disaster areas until now. This time, with the experience of
the Great East Japan Earthquake, I think we can see many various exhibitions, different
ways of gathering and preserving materials, along with exhibition methods, ways tocollaborate with local people, and also challenges and the need for future involvement.
In the case of Rikuzentakata Museum, the museum itself was destroyed, and thefollowing revival and recovery was so difficult, and presented to us with huge problems.
Including those points, I know we want to continue our involvement in these issues.