Brief Explanation

With the coming of the 4th anniversary of the tsunami, Kahoku News was concerned with the manner in which much of society seemed to be forgetting about the disaster. In part to prepare people for similar catastrophes in the future, we wanted to refresh people’s memories of their own experiences and keep them from forgetting the disaster.

The Brief

Kahoku News is a large local newspaper covering the whole area of North Eastern Japan, where was hit by a terrible tsunami disaster in 2011. Kahoku News covered the disaster in an extra edition newspaper on the day of the tsunami, and was a trusted source of reliable journalism and honest coverage.

How the final design was conceived

In order to stop the fading of people’s memories of the tsunami disaster, we at Kahoku News drew attention back to the extra edition newspaper we printed on the day of the tsunami. We took the original data from that edition and made a stencil. Using that, we recreated the newspaper in sand rather than ink. Shown in an exhibition focused around the tsunami disaster, our piece expressed the fragility of people’s collective memory of the tragedy as the newspaper of sand deteriorated over time. Those that viewed the exhibition were reminded of their personal experiences of that time, and cautioned about the deterioration of their memories of it.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The exhibition was covered in 29 newspapers, 97 websites and a nation-wide TV program, garnering around 85,000,000 yen in media exposure. As a result, it became the subject of Nation-wide attention and the small urban gallery location was filled with visitors. When viewing the newspaper made of sand, attendees recalled their own personal experiences of that time, and felt a degree of catharsis for their memories of the disaster.