Day 149 2016: Venturing north...

Day 149: ...to see restoration and hope

I'm venturing to Fukushima this weekend. It will be the first time I've stopped in the area since the 2011 triple disaster although I've passed through a couple of times in the interim. Some friends and colleagues of mine have been working on the restoration of some original painted tiles in a particular shrine in a small village, Iitate. The story itself is amazing and I will be detailing that a little more over on the other blog (yes, the other blog is ready to get a bit of a workout now). 

Ticket to ride...

The project is almost complete and today is the opening of the exhibition of the restored tiles, painted by postgraduate students at one of Japan's top art schools. There was also a forum at the Fukushima Art Gallery to talk about the work. The really poignant part of this work is that just days after the photographic recording of all the slightly worn tiles was completed, the shrine was burnt to the ground. The photos then became, quite unexpectedly, the only record of the painted tiles, pictures of wolves.

Made it...

Country trains

The exhibition

The Art Museum

Pansies

Forum participant

Recording

Slide showing the 'before' and 'after'

Colleagues Kumi and Simon explain the project

Of course, a trip to the country means one must stay at one of the local hot springs houses, of course. And food, of course...and Japanese drumming, naturally...

Noice

Drummers drumming

Focussed

Also quite focussed

Recording

Night's end

Tomorrow we head to the village and the shrine, which has since been rebuilt. 

A truly memorable and privileged experience. 

[Camera : iPhone 6S, 9.25am; Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 11.08am-4.02pm; 7.28pm-9.13pm; 28 May 2016]