On Thursday, October 9, 2014 a special lecture discussing the Restoration after the Great East Japan Earthquake was held by members of the Public Relations Section of the Fukushima Prefectural Office, Mr. ABE Masato, Public Relations Manager, Mr. YANO Yoshihito, Project Manager, and Mr. YAMAZAKI Hiroyuki, Information Dispatch Advisor. From Ritsumeikan University Professor SATO Tatsuya, Dr. KIDO Ayae, Research Fellow, and Associate Professor YAMAGUCHI Hironori from the Office for the Support of Post-Disaster Recovery, and Vice President IMAMURA from APU attended the lecture.
Associate Professor Yamaguchi from the Office for the Support of Post-Disaster Recovery, which was established in April 2011, chaired the lecture, and members from Fukushima responded to questions and a discussion was held as students voiced their thoughts.
Mr. ABE from the Prefectural Office discussed his concern for the current situation where interest has waned as restoration has progressed, as opposed to the chaotic situation which followed shortly after, at the time of the earthquake. He expressed his gratitude to those students, roughly 40, who showed an interest in Fukushima by attending the lecture.
After the talk students discussed their opinions and asked various questions, saying,
“I want to know more about the current situation in Fukushima, but I did not even know where to ask”, “Those of us outside Fukushima do not know whether we are receiving the correct information. How does the prefecture send out their information?”
In response to students’ questions, Professor Sato and Dr. Kido introduced the activities at Ritsumeikan University, which has made use of the Collaboration Agreement signed between the Ritsumeikan Academy and Fukushima Prefecture last December; holding Fukushima Day, organizing international students’ visit to Fukushima, as well as cooperating in the development of new project to overcome the harmful rumours after the Earthquake.
Mr. Abe said “Correct information is judged and differs depending on who receives the information. What we can do is provide the correct data and hope that opinions are made based on our data.” He concluded saying “We would like people to come to Fukushima and see (its real appearance). Even it is for leisure, please come for a visit.”
