Marking two years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, literary museums nationwide jointly open "Literature and Natural Disasters." Hosted by the National Council of Literary Museums, a shared-theme show is a first. From the Inoue Yasushi Memorial Museum in Asahikawa, Hokkaido—"The World of Inoue Yasushi's Ko Bandai"—to the Kumamoto Museum of Modern Literature—"Toward 3/11: Words and Records"—39 museums mount special corners. Most run March 1–31, but some started earlier, some end mid-March, some run through June (see the council site "http://www.bungakukan.or.jp/kyougikai/index.htm" and flyer＝photo top "http://www.town.tsuwano.lg.jp/shisetsu/tirashi.pdf").
The statement of purpose says recovery and reconstruction in disaster areas "cannot be said to have clear prospects. ... Through many works in this exhibition, we hope to convey our feelings to survivors and to reflect on our civilization, as a chance to create the future."
Among affected prefectures, two museums join: "Writers Linked to Koriyama Depict Natural Disasters" (Koriyama Literary Forest Archive) and "Iwaki Nanahama—Sea of Abundance and Threat" (Iwaki City Shibano Ippei Memorial Museum)—perhaps because reconstruction is still halfway. Other themes often link the Great Kantō Earthquake or the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake with writers and works.
In Tokyo, participants include the Tabata Literary Museum (Kitakoi), Arakawa Nippori Library, Museum of Modern Japanese Literature (Meguro), Yamao Yōsuke Memorial Museum (Mitaka), Mushanokōji Saneatsu Memorial Museum (Chōfu), and Yoshikawa Eiji Memorial Museum (Ōme).
Scanning the list, favorite writers' museums abound. Kamakura Museum of Literature and Karuizawa Kogen Bunko, among others, offer fine old buildings in splendid settings—when it warms a little, I would like to visit.
Here I introduce the Yoshimura Akira corner at Nippori Library—"Yoshimura Akira's Wall of the Sea and the Great Kantō Earthquake" (through June 19; closed Mondays in principle)—for personal taste and proximity.
Yoshimura (1927–2006) was born in Nippori; a "corner" was established in 1992 when he received the Arakawa Ward Citizen Honor Award, with many donated manuscripts, drafts, favorite fountain pens, glasses, signed books, and photos on permanent display＝photo bottom, from the library website.
Because his Dazai Prize winner Journey to the Stars (Bungeishunjū, 1968) was set on the Sanriku coast, he visited Tanohata, Iwate many times, heard locals' tsunami history, and wrote Wall of the Sea (Chūkō Shinsho, 1970, later retitled Great Tsunami of the Sanriku Coast); in 1973 he also wrote Great Kantō Earthquake (Bungeishunjū, 1973; Kikuchi Kan Prize).
This show includes panels of the Wall of the Sea cover, Great Kantō Earthquake manuscript and lecture notes, Great Taishō Earthquake and Fire, and articles on Yoshimura after 3/11.
Nippori Library is ten minutes on foot from JR/Keisei Nippori Station; from Takebashi to Nippori by train is about thirty minutes. Weekday hours until 7:30 p.m.