Paper short abstract:

This paper describes an interdisciplinary intervention to create a ‘virtual public infrastructure’ which would promote discussion among the local people in the process of reconstruction after the tsunami in a small town in Iwate, Japan.

Paper long abstract:

This paper describes our ongoing intervention in the process of reconstruction after tsunami in a small town in Iwate, Japan. At the beginning of 2012, I happened to meet the semi-public committee for reconstruction of the town. Since then, we, an ad hoc group of an anthropologist, two urban planners, and an information scientist, have visited the town regularly and supported the drafting of local reconstruction plan. In retrospect, visibility is a key concept for us. We attempted to create a better vision for the next decade of the town by making visible local concerns which not only our team as outsiders but also local residents do not know well. It is difficult even for them to grasp what are going on in the town after the tsunami since the survivors are reluctant to tell their own personal situations with each other. Thus what is and is not to be represented is not just a classic question for writing ethnography, but also a crucial and practical challenge for our project. We have attempted to create a 'virtual public infrastructure' which would promote discussion among the local people by trial and error. We made maps and issued newsletters, interviewed survivors, and held workshops to draw out local people's personal opinions and briefing sessions on the legal system of disaster reconstruction. I review our approach to public anthropology and how our project contributed to the reconstruction of the town or not, by examining what our project has made 'public.'