Reflecting on the March 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami and Looking to the Future | World Monuments Fund

“This is all about going back to basics of cultural properties preservation.” That is the phrase echoed by my counterparts in Japan. It’s become the core principle of the SOC (Save Our Culture) project to save cultural heritage that has the most meaning nationally and locally. In normal days, even with peaks and troughs affecting our daily lives, there are always people and communities that live and work here. It is within this environment that I’ve been working in cultural heritage conservation, but I’ve never had the thought, what if both are lost? Four months passed following the events of March 11, 2011 until I was able to make my first eye-opening journey to tsunami-afflicted communities in Tohoku, including Kesennuma. Since then, determining how best to rebuild the afflicted societies remains the most pressing issue.