The MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative is MITÕs response to the March 2011 triple disaster in Japan. The Initiative, established by the MIT-Japan Program at the Center for International Studies, provides a mechanism for faculty and student exchange between MIT and universities in the Tohoku region for the study and implementation of disaster-resilient planning, design, and reconstruction.
In the Summer 2012 Workshop of four weeks, the first half was spent in the villages of Tane, Shiga Prefecture. This is the sixth year that the MIT Japan Design Workshop has visited this Satoyama area consisting of thirteen villages, now facing a Òslow disasterÓ with a shrinking population and declining productivity.
The second half of our stay in Japan was devoted to the disaster-relief & recovery aid to Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, jointly with the MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative activities underway there since 2011.