Reconstruction of social capital post Tsunami trauma — Understanding loss, social belonging and identity struggles in Fukushima, Japan

Client: Shinchi town Municipal Government

Reach: Home to 8152 residents, hosting a couple hundred visitors yearly.

Main responsible for: User research, Informant Interviews, Service design proposal

Secondary responsible for: Background research, Stakeholder liaison

Our team: 1 research lead — 1 UX Researcher — 1 research coordinator — 3 Social scientists

Our Institution: The University of Tokyo is a public research university located in Japan. It receives the largest amount of national grants for research institutions. According to Thomson Reuters, Todai is the best research university in Japan with specially distinctive excellence in Physics, Biology & Biochemistry, and ample recognition for its research in the social sciences and humanities. It is the only Japanese university within the world top 100.

The initial issue: 2010 tsunami destroyed 577 houses in town (approximately half all the homes), with a death toll of 166 community members, in a traumatizing event which isolated the town over the next decade: physically for about two years, with the damage of train lines and highways, and socio-psychologically in the upcoming years, due to the ongoing association of Fukushima prefecture with nuclear contamination. A severe process of depopulation saw about 10% of town residents emigrating.

Re-assessing the issue: Shinchi municipal government comes to us to aid in the formulation of reconstruction initiatives which might alleviate their depopulation issue. Historically, post-disaster management emphasizes physical reconstruction, yet natural disasters can often damage the foundation of societies in a broader sense of the word. This begs the question: What needs rebuilding after a natural disaster? Is an infrastructure-focused approach sufficient to reconstruct the towns and cities hosting these Japanese communities? This line of inquiry leads to establishing our research question: “What are the social structures that got damaged after the 2010 Tohoku earthquake?

Here’s the plan: A stage of preparation, to allow for bidirectional familiarization between researchers and community, is our first order of business. Subsequently, the team generates instances to collect community member’s personal experiences and stories, focusing on their feelings towards the town, its locations and different community groups. These experiences are collected and systematized to uncover the different topics touched upon, which are then developed into Epics. Finally, a workshop with municipal workers is organized to turn this insight into actionable initiatives. Our research team takes said initiatives and articulates them in two mid-scale community development project proposals, grounded in real community needs and municipal limitations.

No shortcuts: Generating trust and providing a safe environment for capturing relevant user insights is relevant for all researchers, but completely fundamental for this project. Japanese culture tends to favor a rather reserved and discrete demeanor out of its society, and the request to share some of their most personal experiences is a tall order. Background work needs to be done to generate trust and familiarity with the community. This involves volunteering activities, cultural exchange sessions, participation in workshops and community events. Since timelines agreed on with the city hall are extensive, ample time can be allocated to this step in the project, as an investment to obtain quality data in a respectful, non-revictimizing manner.

Deepening our understanding of loss: Once structures are put in place to host informant’s valuable life experiences, activities are carried out to collect their stories, thoughts and wants:

• English playtime & Coffee break: Getting parents to speak about their experiences and hopes for the future of their children is better conducted as a group activity with several parents complimenting each other’s experiences. In order to create a safe environment for their kids to be entertained while allowing parents to take a few hours to chat openly, a playroom with English-language learning activities is set up besides our interview room.
• One on one informant interviews (at your workplace): Most Shinchi town members were open to speaking to us, as long as we agreed to come to their usually transited places. Visiting their workplaces allowed us to see their daily routines, as well as appreciating the dynamics amongst colleagues. Joining them through their lunch breaks allowed for interviewees to show us some local places and casually share their anecdotes about town.
• Key Informant Interviews with community leaders: Neighborhood association leads, Local temple guardians, Women group chiefs. Community leaders provide an excellent point of view on the gregarious movements the city has seen over the last 10 years.
• “Ask me anything” Festival Chat booth: A summer festival booth allows families with teenagers preparing for higher education to ask Toudai professors, graduates and grad students anything they want. The occasion allows families and young Shinchi members to share their own ambitions and wants for the future in an open conversation.
• Experts City mapping: Several large, simplified maps of Shinchi (without any landmarks indicated) are circulated and posted in several community centers. Sets of stickers and colorful pencils are left by the maps, with an invitation to by passers to “tell me what your favorite place in Shinchi is and why?”.

Systematizing and categorizing experiences

Hundreds of discourses, interviews, local recommendations, and data points are collected throughout the year. These datapoints are allocated to different Theme buckets. Each bucket is analyzed and described in a series of 1st person Epics. For demonstration purposes, here’s some of the most remarkable themes and epics developed.

Theme: Furusato, A lost sense of hometown

• Epic 1 – Although going to the beach or park was synonym with free time and youth, currently there is a painful association with these places that got destroyed by the ocean.
• Epic 2- We used to bike all over Shinchi when we were kids, but after 2010 a sense of needing to protect children crept over town, and now kids move only by car, which means they interact less and are no longer connected to the town.
• Epic 3 – Shinchi has places of deep beauty and quiet, but access is tricky and young people don’t get to experience those anymore. These places are slowly being forgotten, and people’s view of Shinchi is shaped without this beauty.

Theme: Stigma

• Epic1 – “We have become worse than an anonymous city, we are just one of many tiny towns no one knows about, except for our general suffering from the Tsunami”
• Epic2 – “The nuclear accident in Fukushima has meant that all products from the region, even those not remotely associated to contamination, have become non desirable. We can’t sell anything we produce”

Theme: Fear for the future

• Epic 1 – “The sense of peace in town made it ok to expect to have a small job in Shinchi in the future, but without this sense of peace and safety, I worry about what kind of work options my children could have in town”
• Epic 2 – “We used to see Shinchi growing, new businesses coming up and would dream of the many things we could do in town when growing up. Although train lines and buildings are back, no industries seem to be developing, which means nothing to dream of for the future”

Drawing the bigger picture: Damage to communities can’t be fully remedied with reconstruction of infrastructure. Community development initiatives are fundamental for the recovery of social capital, which tends to be deeply compromised after a natural disaster. Respectful inquiry on citizen’s experience suggests mass emigration from this town is not due to a lack of infrastructure or adequate housing. Instead, citizens describe a loss of meaning of the places that once signified positive things such as childhood, safety, and home. A subsequent loss of pride in their identity as Shinchi residents stems from the relentless definition of their lives around the disaster. Eventually, a sense of hopelessness for the future of their youth settles over town. No longer the peaceful picture of a hometown, many residents start wondering about practical matters: what can this town offer to our children? Although they highly value life quality and a sense of community, having reached this point, residents start considering relocating to cities with better educational institutions and more varied job opportunities.

Proposal of initiatives

Proposal A (mid-term): Discover Shinchi (student style)

Shinchi town lacks a public transportation system, making its inhabitants reliant upon private transportation and an incipient taxi system.

Biking amongst school children used to be a safe, popular means of transportation that decreased in use after 2010 Tohoku earthquake.

The relevance of biking was not merely practical, it built awareness about Shinchi’s many faces, familiarized Children with the overall community and opened opportunities for children’s development to occur within the Shinchi stage, populating places with memories and experiences which support a sense of belonging, while shaping their identity as Shinchi townees.

An electric bicycle pilot is set in place with 5 bikes donated by The University of Tokyo. The additional electric assist is set in place so the project can be tested across Shinchi age groups and skill levels. Measurement of distances, creation of biking maps with tips and tricks, presence of services, vending machines and water spots is collected and provided to Pilot subjects to support the initiative. The Pilot is very well received and a plan for the creation of an associated mobile app is set in place. The project fits well within Shinchi town’s modest budget, and has an expected reach of around 2500 rides yearly.

Proposal B (long-term): Home away from home (Tourism campaign pilot)

Redefining the narrative of Fukushima prefecture towns is a delicate PR activity, often deprioritized in favor of other rebuilding activities. The view of Shinchi residents of their town as the ultimate Japanese hometown experience provides a distinct point of view to the construction of a tourist campaign. The recent opening of a new hotel, with capacity for 500 visitors, gives financial direction to the campaign and allows for tentative KPIS to be established, In terms of the number of visitors to be attracted. It is fundamental to point out, though, that this tourist campaign’s goal is as much for external consumption as it is for Shinchi citizen’s internal consumption: Redefining Shinchi townees’ image of their own town as a desirable spot, defined by its beauty, peace and ideal Japanese nature is an objective of its own.

Preparation of a pilot video describing the narrative, brochure in the traditional Japanese format (standard across the country) and City mapping is conducted to pitch the initiative to city officials and funding partners.