Representation & Interpretive Lenses

Level 7 by Okamoto Taro and Chim Pom

The island of Japan has gone through many disasters, leaving the Japanese with many personal and collective memories to tell. Some of these interpretations and representations of the disasters have been published worldwide through books, movies, and art. The subjects of these works vary from governmental leadership to personal concerns. This is especially significant because during wartime when Japanese government officials overpowered the freedom of speech, people had to be careful of what they said or wrote. Once the United States occupied Japan, people could express themselves more freely, allowing for great works of art. However, the Occupation authorities still actively censored film and literature by placing limitations on representations of the suffering and damages following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa took advantage of this freedom to produce works like No Regrets for Our Youth, focusing on the concept of freedom and democracy. He also produced Scandal, a movie addressing the abuse and violence that followed the loss of freedom of speech. He was indeed a pioneer in not only presenting, but also examining, interpreting, and questioning the changes in Japan after the war through the lens of his camera. Such liberal conceptions contributed to the making of Japan's new standing after war no less than the direct representation works of war and post-war life.

Representations and interpretations of disasters are also seen in literature. Among the best-known works was Murakami Haruki's collection of short stories titled After the Quake. Much like his other works such as Underground, the work represents Murakami's ruminations on the nature of modern Japanese society and attitudes. In all six stories, Murakami presents characters who are not physically hurt by the Kobe Earthquake but who are still affected by the earthquake on a more psychological level. In doing so Murakami is interested in looking beyond just the physical disaster into what it means for the Japanese populace of the time. Many works concerning World War II or its aftermath discuss the theme of an individual's Japanese identity, or more broadly, a Japanese identity.

The interpretations and representations of disasters in Japan are seen in paintings and sculptures. A group named Chim Pom, composed of six members with no formal fine arts background, added their own painting to Okamoto Taro's famous mural The Myth of Tomorrow, originally painted to depict the horrors of atomic warfare. In 2011, Chim Pom added a depiction of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Plant titled Level 7 to the mural's lower right hand corner of the painting. Level 7 draws attention to the plight of victims of the 3.11 disaster and raises concern about the ongoing nuclear crisis. Their work represents art as a means of personal expression by ordinary people, and addresses sensitive social issues. Currently, social media plays an important role in facilitating public interpretations of the painting, adding to the complexity of the artwork.

Japan has suffered through many disasters. The different disasters discussed above were no doubt the kind of events that were "experienced too soon, too unexpectedly, to be fully known and is therefore not available to consciousness until it imposes itself again, repeatedly, in the nightmares and repetitive actions of the survivor" (Caruth, 1996, p. 4). Therefore, the direct representation of trauma in these works are not only voices that cry out the sorrow through the wound (Caruth, 1996, p. 2), but also a re-confrontation with traumatic memories to seek a deeper understanding of the past. Film, literature, and painting cover the scars of the past and thus draw attention to them. Mostly, they translate personal memories into a form the world can share.