Cross talk between Inoo Kei and his university professor Part 2 (Josei Jishin 19.12.24)
Original article here.
In December 2019, a book titled 災害から命を守る 「逃げ地図」づくり (Creating an "escape map" that protects lives from disasters) was released. Inoo took part in the Escape Map in Tohoku region when he was studying in the university, and it became his undergrad thesis. This cross-talk between Inoo and Yamamoto-sensei is part of the book's promotion.
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Cross talk between Inoo Kei and his university professor about his time as a student, researching disaster impacted areas.
Professor Toshiya Yamamoto, Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Science and Engineering, representative board of Child Safety Town Development Partners. Hey! Say JUMP member Inoo Kei (29) whose eyes shined at the Escape Map book, saying “How nostalgic!”. The topic with Professor Toshiya Yamamoto, a professor of architecture at the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Meiji University and the representative director of Child Safety Town Development Partners, is about memories of college days when he went to the disaster area and escape maps. A highly educated idol from Meiji University and his teacher talked about that time.
Inoo: Lately I've been meeting sensei more at events such as university mates' weddings. This year we also celebrate sensei's kanreki (60th birthday anniversary).
Yamamoto: Inoo-kun planned it, didn't you? You said, "Let's make sensei red from head to toe." (laughs)
Inoo: Everyone gives a red colored item as a present. But on that day, unfortunately I had work and couldn't take part. When I was shown photos from that occasion, Sensei looked like Daimajin (laughs). Sensei, the lab from my time was a lot of fun, right?
Yamamoto: You're all interesting. Everybody has their own character.
Inoo: For me also, sensei's lab is a comfortable place. When I was in my 4th year, we went just the two of us for field work in Rikuzentakata. That time I had asked for a discussion. Do you remember that?
Yamamoto: We entered an izakaya in front of Ichinoseki Station thinking we'd eat and go home, but our discussion was so heated, and we missed several shinkansen.
Inoo: That’s right. We couldn’t get to the shinkansen (laugh). The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred when I was in my second year of university. It was a very devastating event, and I wanted to get involved in something, so I asked Professor Yamamoto, who was active in the disaster area from an early stage, to join the laboratory.
Yamamoto: Our laboratory entered Rikuzentaka one month after the earthquake. After that, Inoo-kun also started field surveys in elementary and junior high school in Rikuzentaka, but also at junior high school in Okawa elementary school and Ishikawa Junior High School.
Inoo: That’s why I participated in “Escape Map” workshop, preparing the venue setup, and listened to the stories from people affected by the disaster. I had to talk to junior high school students about a year after the disaster, so I felt my communication skills inevitably improved.
Yamamoto: When creating Escape Map, we collect everyone’s opinions one after another, and it is important to share this with the local people. When we’re putting colors with all our might for the Escape Map, somehow everyone starts to speak. A psychologist said, when we use our fingertips, it activates our brain. One grandpa said, “In the past we could escape from here,” and an elementary school student said, “Here it’s dangerous because of landslides.” And then based on those opinions, discussions began.
Inoo: Something like, “That’s this person’s private land, so it’s not good to point out that it's prone to slide.” (laughs)
Yamamoto: It’s interesting because people who has bad relationship with one another too, when working on the Escape Map has to work together. Originally, rather than creating a map, it is more important to communicate the risks. Also discuss how grandpas, grandmas, and people with disabilities can escape.
Inoo: If we use Escape Map as a measure, people from children to elderly people can sit at the same table and have discussions regardless of age.
Yamamoto: Because of the assumption that walking speed on the map is adjusted to the elderlies, it may be possible for children to realize, “The grandpas really take time to escape!” and when we announce that in that area, the grandpas in turn realize, “The kids from our grandchildren’s generation really think about us.”
Inoo: That kind of awareness will lead to improved evacuation plans, right?
Yamamoto: It’s also good because we can simulate our behavior (on the map). When we measure the distance and time to the evacuation site on the Escape Map, we start to think, “What happens if we were here?” and think about it by ourselves.
Inoo: Just by imagining the evacuation route changes everything. It’s best to do this at school, right? There is also a sense of game by coloring, and visualizing, it is easy to understand which places are dangerous. It’s recommended to do this as part of the disaster prevention training.
Note:
Escape Map (“逃げ地図) Is a handmade map developed by the Nikken Sekkei Volunteer Department that uses colored pencils to paint the time to the target evacuation point such as during a tsunami. Yamamoto-sensei is supporting the holding of escape map making workshops all over the country.
If you want to know more about Escape Map, check this pdf file prepared by Nikken Sekkei Volunteer Team.
If you want to know/read Inoo's conference paper that was taken from his undergrad thesis, head here. He was listed as part of a graduate school, and it actually caused a stir on whether he did go to master or not. He did not. However, for urban planning and architecture departments in Japan, labs are part of the graduate school, and thus Inoo was listed to as part of that graduate school.
Kanreki - is a celebration when someone reaches 60, usually they’d wear read cap and rope which signifies entering their second childhood. Red is the main color for kanreki, including the food. I had the occasion to celebrate my sensei’s kanreki too, and we made him wear all red as well.