Silence after catastrophe Disaster survivor witnessing in contemporary Japan

This dissertation focuses on the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake survivor/izoku (family members of the deceased) testimonies, representations, art works, and collaborative acts of witnessing to examine how cultural silence during the aftermath of disaster is created under the public discourse of revitalization and commemoration practices. The author examines transformative modes of survivor/izoku witnessing to uncover discrepancies between survivor/izoku’s memories and other public memory, and to contemplate this crisis of interpersonal and intergenerational memory transmission. The author argues that these alternative acts of survivor/izoku witnessing become processes that contribute to breaking through the crisis of disaster memory transmission and the lack of forgiveness and healing in contemporary Japanese Shin Buddhist culture.