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News Release

April 15, 2021
The Japan-America Society of Washington DC
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation, Miyagi Division

3-11 Disaster Virtual Tour: Special Online Seminar for U.S. High School Students

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation, Miyagi Division (Director and Miyagi Division General Manager, Masahiro Takizawa; hereinafter, "NTT East") will conduct a special online seminar utilizing internet communication technologies (ICT), in commemoration of the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and as disaster prevention education for students outside Japan. The seminar will be conducted online between the 3.11 Future Support Association of Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, and high school students from outside Japan. Seminar activities will deepen participants' understanding and increase their disaster prevention awareness through presentations by a traditional storyteller [kataribe] on the conditions at the time of the earthquake and the activities of the U.S. military's "Operation Tomodachi", while also affording participants a simulated experience of the site of the earthquake through an outdoor virtual tour that will introduce them to Ishinomaki's former Kadonowaki Elementary School, an important relic of the disaster. Through this seminar, NTT East hopes to preserve the story of the Tōhoku Earthquake in its capacity as a local enterprise, to provide an enriching immersive program utilizing ICT, and to promote initiatives going forward.

  • *"Operation Tomodachi" is the operation name for disaster relief activities conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces at the time of the 2011 earthquake.

1. Overview of Special Earthquake Seminar

  1. (1)Title
    3-11 Disaster Virtual Tour: Special Online Seminar
  2. (2)Date/Time
    April 21, 2021 (Wed), 9:00-10:00
    • *Eastern Daylight Time (U.S.): April 20 (Tues), 20:00-21:00
  3. (3)Location
    Broadcast From: "MEET Kadonowaki", 3.11 Future Support Association, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture
    (https://311support.com/??????????)
  4. (4)Audience
    "29th National Japan Bowl®" participants who wished to participate in the special seminar.
    (Primarily U.S. high school students studying Japanese)
    • *"National Japan Bowl®" is a competition established in 1992 by the Japan-America Society of Washington DC, which tests knowledge of Japanese language and culture among high school-level Japanese language learners in the United States. The 2021 competition was held over two days on April 8 and 9, 2021.
      (- National Japan Bowl® https://japanbowl.org/??????????)
  5. (5)Content of Seminar
    1. (i)Overview of earthquake, using video etc.
    2. (ii)Introduction, by traditional storyteller, of "Operation Tomodachi" activities in the Ishinomaki area.
    3. (iii)Talk by traditional storyteller on earthquake experiences and disaster prevention.
    4. (iv)Outdoor virtual tour of earthquake remains (Kadonowaki Elementary School).
    5. (v)Online Q&A between participants and storyteller.

2. Points to Note

  1. (1)The seminar will be conducted in Japanese with an accompanying machine translation. The accuracy of translations of the talks on the Tōhoku Earthquake will be checked and verified.
  2. (2)For (5)(iii) above, the storyteller will discuss his/her experiences in English, and participant understanding will be confirmed.

3. Collaborator(s)

3.11 Future Support Association

Reference: Sample images of seminar

Inquiries Regarding this Press Release

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation, Miyagi Division
Planning Department, Public Relations Officer, Tel: 022-269-3040

Information is current as of the date of issue of the individual press release.
Please be advised that information may be outdated after that point.

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