The Japanese Culture Club (JCC) yesterday during open block assembled over 100 Tufts students and faculty members to create a photo message for those affected by last year's March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Those in attendance wore red and white shirts and stood on the patio outside of Tisch Library for two photos: one forming the Japanese flag and the other in the formation of "Tufts," a heart shape and the characters for the Japanese word for "Japan." The photos were taken from the Tisch library roof.
The photographs will be sent to media outlets, Japanese cultural clubs at other Boston-area schools and organizations in Japan, according to JCC Co-President Yuki Tanimoto.
"We want to send this image everywhere," Tanimoto, a sophomore, said.
A major goal of the initiative is to keep people thinking about the disaster even though it happened a year ago, according to Tanimoto.
"They'll learn about it, hopefully," he said. "That's a big part of what we're doing this year: awareness."
JCC does not want people to assume that just because Japan is a first-world country it has recovered completely in a year.
"We want people to remember that people are still affected, people still haven't gone back to their homes, people still don't have homes," Tanimoto said.
The photo event was coordinated through a Facebook page and a Google Document, with colors pre-assigned to those who signed up in order to ensure the right balance of people dressed in red and white, according to ShuheiMiyasaka, a senior.
Although 118 people had signed up to participate as of the afternoon before the event, the number of people who actually came was a pleasant surprise, according to JCC Chairman and Photo Committee Member ShoIgawa.
"We really appreciate so many students coming," Igawa, a senior, said.
The crowd was augmented by people walking by Tisch Library who were encouraged to join if they happened to be wearing a white or red shirt.
"We tried to grab as many people as were passing by," Igawa said.
This event was part of JCC's ongoing work in remembering what happened one year ago. The club last year raised about $10,000 to help victims of the quake shortly after it happened, Tanimoto said.
"Last year we collected a lot of money … and we were really grateful and it was really powerful," he said.
Their focus this year is to show that people still care about those affected and to increase awareness of the work that still needs to be done.
"They're still struggling and they're still rebuilding, but I think right now what they really need is more of the emotional support," JCC Co-President ShuheiMiyasaka said. "It's important not to forget about what happened."
Other planned events include encouraging students to write well-wishes to be tied to a tree in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall all week and a panel discussion next Tuesday with three Tufts professors who will address the natural disaster's effects on the Japanese economy and psyche. Community members can also write words of encouragement on JCC's blog, and more than 40 comments have already been posted.
Although for some participants this event was a reminder, for those like Tiffany Campbell the quake was close to home and hard to forget.
"I was in Japan during the earthquake," Campbell, a senior, said. "In reality, there's still suffering."
Tanimoto also emphasized the lasting effects of the disaster when describing his and the club's motives for taking the photographic message of support.
"If you think about it, there are 15,000 people that died. If you say it, 15,000, that's just a number," he said. "But if you think about it, each one of those people was a father, a mother, a daughter, a son."
