Environmental Festival in Shioya and Yaita

 The candidate site of the nuclear waste final disposal place is one of the best spring water, "Shoujinzawayusui" in Japan. 

Shioya and Yaita were affected by the Fukushima disaster, and became the candidate to be the final disposal site for the nuclear waste. I met local people who were highly conscious, educated, and concerned residents at my solo exhibition ” what is home? where is home?”  last year. It was held also related as 5th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster memorial events. My desire to make opportunities for their presentations was realized at this environmental festival. They met my hopes and expectations more than admirably.

SHIOYA
Monday 10/2/17 - Monday10/9/17
Shioya Exchange Center
The environmental festival started with Ocarina performance by Eiko Takahashi. Ichiro Koguchi's prints and my prints were exhibited at the Shioya Exchange Center. The movies such as "Be chased by the mineral poison" by Takashi Shinozaki, “Endlager” by WasabiChilli Films: Takashi Kunimoto & Renato Vazquez, and “Yasuyo in New York/Spring 2012” by Satoshi Yajimachi were screened. The guest speaker, Takeshi Akagami talked about Shozo Tanaka. Singing voice cafe and workshops were also held. The participationnal programs created by locals were fulfilment and left many possibilities in the future.

"Ehon Ongaku" by Kan Kan 
It was created a fantasy world from music and picture books. The locals sang original songs that were beautifully harmonized with images from fairy tales.

“Biblio Talk” 

by Hummingbird thinking about the future of children

participants introduced their favorite books. Each book introduction made us feel the personality of its introducer. It became an intimate space, like touching the inside of other people's minds. Makoto Takeuchi, a writer living in Tochigi prefecture, participated.

List of Introduced Books
Before Ice Cream Dissolves: Kenji Ozawa and the Japan American Fear Society
Into the Wild: Jon Krakauer
AMI. Child of the Stars: Enrique Barrios
A hummingbird person drops: Shinichi Tsuji　
Let's become an ordinary country: C. Douglas Lummis 
History of Radiation Exposure: Yasuo Nakagawa 
Flood of Isa: Yousuke Kimura

“Cute Japanese Paper Containers” by Yoshiko Komatsu. 

The workshop conveyed the importance of water in making traditional Japanese paper. How to make handmade Japanese paper, and what kind of materials are used, were explained and exhibited.

”Learn and think together about nuclear disposal site's issue" 

by Masatoshi Oyama. Facilitator by Masaaki Mizuno. 

Shioya is a candidate for nuclear waste disposal site, there were candidate site tours with the cooperation of the town, and related talk session about nuclear waste disposal site.

"Let's go for a recuperation" 

by Tchinomi Recuperation Cheer Team 

It was a play with the theme of radiation exposure and recuperation. The locals collaborated and made a creative drama with original songs and choreography

Pamphlets about recuperation places that had very low radiation, all over Japan,, were available, and we set up a consultation area. Two guests from Chichibu, Saitama, provided their extra residences for temporary recuperation"karapponoie" for those exposed to radioactivity. They explained about their place and shared with us about their experiences.

Shioya Town Mayor: Kazuhisa Mikata

On the final day, I talked about why we need environmental festivals using a PowerPoint presentation entitled "from one person's hand to everyone's hands" that introduced overseas environmental events. The Mayor of Shioya town participated in this last event and took part in the active exchange of opinions with residents. In Shioya town's environmental festival, local people cooperated and had a variety of good  interactions. We confirmed that it was necessary for us to build a place where we could raise our awareness of each other.

YAITA

Ichiro Koguchi and Yasuyo Tanaka Print Exhibition

Wednesday11/1/17 - Sunday 11/26/17 

Yaita City Library