Tokyo earthquake visualization

Reference: Jessica E. Horton, Andrew C. Parnell, Christopher H. A further source of Tokyo earthquakes and Pacific Ocean tsunamis. Nature Geoscience, Sept. Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Simon Fraser University. Original written by Diane Mar-Nicolle. Monday, October 25, Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery. Geology Page. Home Latest News Video. While many of the points made here are covered in other scholarship, particularly by Andrew Markus and Gregory Smits at least in English; there is a vast array of scholarly literature on earthquake culture in Japanese as well , Weisenfeld supplements their literary and historical exposition with visual analysis of artworks, particularly woodblock prints.

In addition to their proto-journalistic functions, Weisenfeld argues that these pre-twentieth-century images of earthquakes served multiple purposes as vibrant if grotesque forms of visual entertainment, often with Buddhist subtexts.

It has themes in common with chapter 3, as both cover widely ranging historical and topical sources, from visual records of volcanic eruptions to propagandistic Russo-Japanese War prints, as well as documenting the disaster. Some illustrations in these chapters are graphic and shocking, making them difficult to confront and emotionally process.

The lines suddenly leap off the edge of the paper at precisely AM, creating a series of vigorous, spasmodic scratches. This seismograph was widely reproduced in the mass media, commemorative albums, and government publications, an image rendered by the earthquake itself in a stark red, white, and black register, a palette suggestive of violence and tragedy.

A setting sun illuminates the scene—soft, warm, and orange—yet is also suggestive of the lingering heat of a fire that claimed thousands of lives. Also examined is barrack decoration, which Tokyo-based art and design collective Mavo the subject of an earlier monograph by Weisenfeld [ Mavo: Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde, — , Berkeley: University of California Press, ] recognized as harboring potential for avant-garde expression.

The last two chapters share a focus on policy and projects related to disaster recovery and memorialization. The seventh and last chapter of the book discusses earthquake memorials, sculptural and architectural, and the process described by Weisenfeld through which artists and officials selected and refined designs demonstrates what was at stake.

Specifically, I will discuss a project with Watanave Lab and Iwate Nippo to create a digital archive of thoughts and experiences of survivors of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and a separate visualization of the biggest earthquakes in recent Japanese history. I will also present a personal data art project that explores Japanese anime over the past 50 years from the point of view of international fans.

Time permitting, I will demo other creative visualization work. Dea Bankova is currently a Project Researcher at the Watanave Hidenori lab at the University of Tokyo, as well as an independent data visualization consultant.