Seminar about Post-Tsunami Japan

On the 27th December 2018. I attended a seminar about how Japan's condition was after the 2011 Tsunami. The seminar was located in the Hyogo Building, Syiah Kuala University. In this seminar, organized by Ms. Hishi Yoshimi and Mr. Yamamoto Hiroyuki (Center for Southest Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan). There were two speakers at this seminar. They are Dr. Chubachi Natsuko as the first speaker and Mr. Kasahara Yukata as the second speaker. The seminar participants came from different fields of study. They are students from the Department of Chemistry, Department of Education, Department of Disaster and some of them are high school students. In this seminar most spoke about the 2011 Japan Tsunami and how Acehness survived after the Tsunami.

It was opened by Mr. Yamamoto Hiroyuki. He said that this was not the first time he had come to Indonesia. They held workshops with 500 participants for 5 days at the Hyogo Building in 2011 that focused on disasters. He asks why the disaster happened. He said that disasters can be a basic knowledge to deal with future disasters. By analyzing disasters, humans can see the reasons or impacts of disasters. Therefore, we can predict and prepare what we will do later. At least we can avoid disaster as soon as possible.

Dr.Chubachi Natsuko

After that, Dr. Chubachi Natsuko ( Professor assistance of IRIDES, Tohoku University, Japan) took the stage. He talked about the role of universities in disaster areas and the obstacles facing Japan in the field of Public Relations. He said that in Japan the Public Relation is still a new phenomenon. At university, this is only for learning. All socialization is only done through the media. After the Tsunami, everything changed. He also mentioned that, because the university had never taken part in disseminating information or conducting socialization, it made Japanese people lack information about the Tsunami. Not only students but also lecturers were confused about how to tell people about the Tsunami because they did not have a background in knowledge about it. They also cannot provide specific information when people ask them. Therefore, he took the initiative to create a community about how to deal with the Tsunami. He said, "Our community created a division of Public Relations. We have 55 lecturers who have two branches. The first is the Public Relations of Science with 10% lecturers and Public Relations of Natural Science with 90% lecturers. The lecturers came from various fields of study ".

He said "this community has an important role in Japan. During the Tsunami, all media came to this community to gather details and correct information, especially from me. " Because the media does not know who is the right speaker for this disaster. He is a bridge between the media and the speaker. He also said that it was rather difficult to translate lecturers' language into media language so that it was easily understood by the public. Japanese media want faster and detailed information while lecturers need a lot of time to process information. Finally he asked about rehabilitation and reconstruction after the Tsunami in Aceh to the lecturers who were there.

But before completing the discussion, he added some information about what the Public Relations of Natural Science did. So, the Public Relations Public Relations function examines the mechanism of a tsunami. the research results have reached 90% and the data has been explained to the public. they said that the tsunami that occurred in 2011 had a negative impact on the community. However, there is a good thing because at that time digital technology was very good because everything that happened could be recorded. Therefore, the mechanism of the tsunami is very easy to explain, but the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the community itself is still very difficult to learn and requires a lot of in-depth information.

Mr. Kasahara Yukata

The second speaker was Mr. Kasahara Yukata. He is a Tohoku TV Director who always supports events in Aceh. He talked about the role of mass media in post-disaster communities. He had a desire to visit Aceh 4 years ago and he has changed to visit at this time. As a Japanese, he wanted to know about the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Acehnese because he wanted to compare with Japanese people. In Japan, they still have the mental effects of the Tsunami. Even the Tsunami was carried out 7 years ago, Japan did not have the passion to live until now. They still feel they are losing their family. One district in Japan called Tohoku village is inhabited by a family of 3 generations. There are many large families who live there. That is the character of that place. But after the Tsunami, the place became a red zone, meaning it was dangerous to come back to life. So, the government gave one family one door in the apartment for tsunami victims. But the apartment was rented based on the arrival of the family. If the income is high, the rent is also high. So, the government gave one family one door in the apartment for tsunami victims. Apartments for rent based on family income. If your incomeis high, the rent is also high. This rules make some families separate from their families and live alone. one of them is a grandfather. he is 94 years old. It is his first experience of living alone in his entire of life. This environment is lived by many people but communication with one another is lacking.

From this seminar I can see the difference of 7 years between post-Tsunami Japan and post-Tsunami Aceh

Japan	Aceh
Has good building	Has no good building yet
Separate with family because of the rule	Living together even in difficult way
Their land become red zone	The home is built again above their land
Slow mental recovery	Fast mental recovery
Less beliefs in religion	High beliefs in religion