{"id":1277,"date":"2015-07-21T14:25:02","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T18:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2015-07-21T14:25:02","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T18:25:02","slug":"notes-from-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/2015\/07\/21\/notes-from-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jon Gourley<\/em><\/p>\n

While Christoph was in search of Cleopatra in Utah,\u00a0 I accompanied Prof. Jeff Baylis from the History Department on a two week trip to Japan as part of the course:\u00a0 Seismic Disasters in Japan, Then and Now: Earth, Environment and Culture.\u00a0 The trip was attended by ENVS recent graduate Tori Shea (\u201915) as well as several other Trinity students from various departments.<\/p>\n

The trip\u2019s highlights included visits to various historic sites in Japan that have endured catastrophic natural disasters.\u00a0 These disasters are deep reminders to the Japanese people of the fragility of life and everyday threat that goes with inhabiting this beautiful island.<\/p>\n

In Tokyo we visited the museum and memorial of the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, where 10s of thousands assembled in a park after the shaking only to be incinerated by the fires that engulfed the city.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Tokyo Sky Tower<\/p><\/div>\n

\"All<\/a>

All lined up\u2026 typical neatness of Japanese culture.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bullet trains were the preferred mode of transportation and we used our rail passes to visit the tourist town of Karuizawa, just west of Tokyo in the Japanese Alps. Karuizawa sits below the one of the most active volcanic regions in Japan, Mt. Asama.\u00a0 Just prior to our arrival the threat level of the mountain had been increased and climbers were not allowed to be within 200 meters of the crater due to gaseous emissions.\u00a0 We spent one day hiking on Mt. Asama and made it to the first emergency shelter before we had to head back down.\u00a0 Before leaving the Asama region we also visited the village of Tsumagoi that had been completed buried in the 1783 from a debris flow that started on Asama.\u00a0 The village was rediscover in part during and excavation in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a>

Best sushi in Tokyo!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Waiting<\/a>

Waiting for our bullet train at Tokyo Station<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hiking<\/a>

Hiking trail up Mt. Asama.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Panoramic<\/a>

Panoramic of Mt. Asama (right) and 1783 lava flow (below).<\/p><\/div>\n

Watch the video of steaming Mt. Asama<\/a><\/p>\n

Back on the bullet train, we headed north to the region that was devastated by the 2011 great Honshu earthquake and tsunami.\u00a0 While much of the clean-up for many of the cities , towns and villages has completed, the region is far from recovered.\u00a0\u00a0 No photo does the scope of the problem justice but a city that was one of the hardest hit, Rikuzentakata, is attempting to rebuild by literally moving mountains.\u00a0 A giant rock crusher and conveyor system is moving earth material from adjacent hills and raising the ground level of the valley for future building.\u00a0 The scene is surreal when one considers that the vast open valley once was a densely populated town.\u00a0\u00a0 It was sobering yet inspiring as to how the inhabitants of Rikukentakata are attempting to bring back their city.<\/p>\n

\"Conveyors<\/a>

Conveyors bringing earth materials from mountains in the background.<\/p><\/div>\n

See the rock crushers<\/a><\/p>\n

We stayed most of time in the Honshu region at the Hotel Boyo in the fishing town of Kesannuma.\u00a0 It was an especially important place during the tsunami because of its proximity on the hillside above the town. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the few major buildings in town that was not destroyed during the tsunami and fires that ensued. The proprietor \u201cEddie\u201d Eiichi Kato-san and his family had no choice but to open the hotel up as an emergency shelter in the aftermath of the disaster.\u00a0 Kato-san was a wonderful host who shared his stories of the disasters (some were very difficult for him to tell) and despite the horror of the event he has an incredible outlook on life now.\u00a0 He told me that since the disaster he has met extraordinary people from all around the world.\u00a0 From the volunteers that came in the initial weeks and months after the tsunami, to the people who (Like our group) that come now to Kesannuma to learn about what happened and how the region is rebuilding, he is optimistic that the Kesannuma\u2019s best days are yet to come.<\/p>\n

\"Temporary<\/a>

Temporary structures in Kesennuma to allow restaurant and shop owners to stay open for business.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A meal so grand it needed a panoramic. Trinity students enjoy a feast from the Kato family at Hotel Boyo.<\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jon Gourley While Christoph was in search of Cleopatra in Utah,\u00a0 I accompanied Prof. Jeff Baylis from the History Department on a two week trip to Japan as part of the course:\u00a0 Seismic Disasters in Japan, Then and Now: … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/573"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1277"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1302,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions\/1302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}