March 12: The First Meal After the Earthquake / Preserved Food and Relief Supplies 13 “Various things arrived from acquaintances and relatives from all over Japan. From my dad’s friend, there was a letter titled ‘Memories of Me and You’ that made me laugh a bit.”

 

This article introduces the sticky notes visitors contributed and shows what the panels looked like during the exhibition period of “March 12: The First Meal After the Earthquake ––– When, Where, and What Did You Eat?” For the summary of each exhibited panel, please check out the [INDEX] page.

 

About “March 12: The First Meal After the Earthquake”
About sticky note comments

 

[Fall 2014] Exhibited Panels

 

Exhibition Period: October 1st to November 16th, 2014
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque

 

Comments by Visitors about the Panels

Some comments are not directly related to the photo content or location.

 

▷Speaking of packages… Various things arrived from acquaintances and relatives from all over Japan. From my dad’s friend, there was a letter titled “Memories of Me and You” that made me laugh a bit.
 
▷A parcel received from a friend (3/17). There were batteries inside! That was a big help. It must have been tough for the mailman who delivered it… It was snowing that day.
 
▷A friend who was also a mom had evacuated to her parents’ home in the Kansai region. From there, she sent lots of food and an electric stove! I made a list of the things and have kept it safe.

 

About sticky note comments

People from many different backgrounds visited this exhibition, including people from Sendai City, as well as people from everywhere, including coastal areas, inland areas, inside and outside of Miyagi Prefecture, and inside and outside of Japan. There were also both adults and children, and these people left comments on sticky notes about what they remembered from seeing exhibited photos at the time of the disaster. Here, the original text comments that were left are posted without editing. Also, English text in gray are translations of Japanese texts.

 

 

Original Photo

“Emergency Supplies Sent from an Acquaintance in Tokyo”*

 

March 23, 2011
At home in Aoba Ward, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
Recorded by: HAGA Yuichiro7

 

*Source: Photo Collection: “Recording the Memories of 3.11: 3.11 Disaster that Citizens Took—Record of Memory”
Issued and provided by NPO 20th Century Archive Sendai

 

 

 

About “March 12: The First Meal After the Earthquake ––– When, Where, and What Did You Eat?”

The project is a participation style exhibition that exhibits photos of “meals” at the time of the disaster, such as photos related to emergency food distribution, grocery shopping, and people sharing meals at a table. Visitors were free to write sticky notes about what they remembered after seeing the photos and how they lived at the time. This exhibition was planned collaboratively by 3.11 Archive of Memories (at the time, called 20th Century Archive Sendai) and the center for remembering 3.11 (recorder311).
Please check out the [INDEX] page for the summary of each exhibited panel and utilization/application examples.