Season Two begins

Since last year, I have been filming a cable TV documentary program called (loosely translated) "It's Ian. I'm Home!" (the character they originally drew to represent me in the opening credits is below). Since our filming schedule is dictated by the financial year (which ends in March), the series was funded through this month. In total, there were 9 episodes in Season 1, and more information on those episodes can be found here.

We recently found out we were recommissioned for Season 2, but with a catch: the producers at TochiPro wanted to turn our documentary series into a cooking show(!). There is still a documentary component to the program as I will be interviewing people at the farmer's market where I buy the ingredients and shooting a short documentary featuring the person who has grown the featured ingredient in the main dish. However, other than that, we have had very little time to plan how the actual program is going to be shot, so it is truly going to have a "documentary feel".

We begin shooting episode one of "Ian's Kitchen" tomorrow. A new adventure begins.

Moving Forward by Stepping Back

Most of the past year has been spent working on helping to tell the story of what has been happening in Japan since March 11, 2011. Rightly so, everything I had been doing up until March 11 was put on hold and all of my energy and time was put into filming in Tohoku.

One of the consequences of that is that I put on hold the promotion of a documentary I finished in 2010 that had just begun to be shown in competition in international film festivals. "Jake, not finished yet" (81 min, UK/ Japan/ 2010) held its World Premier in competition at the Visions du Reel International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland in 2010 and its North American Premier at the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival that same year.

Now that we have passed the one-year anniversary of March 11, I feel that a veil has lifted; that a period of mourning has passed; that it is finally OK to continue to do other work as well.

It is not that I have "moved on" or will cease to continue to help tell the story of the victims of March 11. It is simply that I am moving forward, and by doing so I now feel the freedom to take a step back and awaken something that is so personal and close to my heart and has since last year been so quietly, patiently waiting in the background.

In the Radiation Zone: One Year Later (Part 3)

After some technical issues yesterday, I have finally gotten up part three of my latest documentary update on the situation in Minamisoma one year after the nuclear meltdown:

The three-part documentary (27 minutes total) can be viewed in its entirety here:

Since Friday, March 9th, Discovery News has carried my latest article for them in their "Human" section, but for the entire day on March 11, my article was the lead banner story on the front page of their website*. I feel very humbled and honoured by this and am so grateful for the opportunity to have as many people as possible see what is still going on Fukushima. Thank you, Discovery News!

* Here is the screen grab of my article on the front page; please click on it to read the article:

One year today.

I passed the anniversary of March 11 quietly editing, pausing at 2:46...

Fittingly, I have just finished editing the final segment of my documentary on the situation in Minamisoma one year after the quake. It is compressing now, and I hope to have it up tonight.

While I am waiting and letting the computer do its work, I am looking through various articles and videos that friends and colleagues have sent over the past week leading up to the anniversary. I have been so busy working on my own documentary, that I quite literally have not watched any TV coverage or read any articles about it.

A few highlights I am looking at right now:

A BBC documentary (58 minutes) of the children who have been affected by the triple disasters.

"Voices of Organic Farmers After Fukushima" (24 minutes) via @kueno44.

This fascinating article from the Mainichi Daily News (March 4) in which activist Aileen Mioko Smith presents "The 10 Strategies Taken by the State, Prefectural Governments, Academic Flunkies and Companies in the cases of Minamata and Fukushima." via @kueno44.

Editing, thinking, feeling

At one point a few weeks ago I had been wondering how I would spend the March 11 anniversary weekend. I certainly hadn't envisioned it would be in my edit suite, but somehow I think that is the most fitting.

I am here organizing the dozens of hours of footage and trying to make sense of what has happened during the past year. It has given me time to process and reflect, and I have been thankful for having something useful to do.

Here is Part 2 of the documentary update on Minamisoma one year after the nuclear disaster.

In the Radiation Zone: One Year Later (part 1 of 3)

This week I have been filming an update about the children being affected by the radiation in the City of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture. Almost 11 months after filming a documentary about the children's return to school in the radiation zone, I wondered how they were getting on.

Here is part 1:

Ups and Downs and Up Again

As the one year anniversary of March 11 approaches, I return to this blog to reflect on how I am processing this past year.

I have come to realize that filming and editing for me is a way to try to understand what is happening around me. Focusing the camera on what is before me and the subsequent ordering of that experience through editing somehow allows me to process things that may be too difficult to do otherwise. Strangely, I seem to mainly film things that are particularly difficult for me and not things that are fun. For example, I have been filming a good friend who is in the hospital dying of cancer, but I rarely take any footage when I am, say, on vacation. I seem to feel protected by having the camera between me and whatever is happening; and yet, if I have the camera on, I can't seem to fully engage or relax.

Writing for me seems to be somewhat of the opposite. When I am pretty clear about what is going on around me, I write more (in this blog, for example). And when things are stagnant or stuck or worse, writing becomes less and less appealing.

Looking back on all I have filmed and written in this past year, I have realized:

• If I am filming, chances are things are difficult for me, but I am trying to understand them.
• If I am not filming, chances are things are just going along.
• If I am writing, I am actively working towards a goal (and probably working on a film).
• If I am not writing, I am probably in some kind of rut.

Since finishing the edit of my documentary film "In the Grey Zone" (trailer can be seen here) three months ago, I have been working on the "business side" of filmmaking; film festival submissions and arranging the website, posters and press materials:

I have also been working on a new website (created by Katsuyoshi Ueno) that will eventually have information for all of my films together in one place.

What I hadn't been doing over these last three months was much writing or filming.

That is until this week.

I have just returned from a trip to the city of Minamisoma near the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Nearly a year after I documented the children returning to school in the radiation zone, I filmed an update on how the children, parents and teachers are doing now. I am editing that now and hope to have it ready to upload by the end of the week.

A time for reflection.

Christmas and New Year are coming soon. Today as I was thinking of loved ones far away, I remembered March 11 was 9 months ago today.

Today marks eight months since March 11.

How much is recovered?

How much is left to be done?

How many questions are still left unanswered?

Extra-curricular Viewing

First, this 5-minute PBS report from August 16th (via @44de256):

Five months after the deadly tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, Japanese authorities have acknowledged that they misled residents about the radioactive dangers. John Sparks of Independent Television News gets an inside look at the area and reports on how citizens are dealing with the ongoing risks.

Second, this 3-minute clip of Germany's 'Today' show which is an attempt to deal with the idiocy and bureaucracy of the handling of the nuclear meltdown through humour. Be sure to click the "CC" button for English subtitles (via @Shogannai):

3.11 Films

We each have our own way of trying to work out our thoughts and feelings about things that are not easily understood.

Seven months after the triple disasters of March 11, the first films about it are starting to appear.

One such film, "311", premiered recently at the 16th Busan International Film festival in Korea. The documentary was shot by four director friends shortly after March 11.

Survivors often act with a mixture of horror and fury when they see the cameras capturing their grief and Mori said the team was constantly forced to question just what they were doing -- documenting or intruding.

This year's Tokyo International Film Festival (currently taking place) features 3 films about the events of March 11 in a special category, "Overcoming the Disaster".

"Overcoming the Disaster" showcases three films related to March 11, and any money raised from the category goes toward TIFF's "Arigato Project" fundraiser for Tohoku. But the support goes deeper than just financial aid. TIFF is using the festival's unique program to acknowledge support from the international film festival community, and provide a bit of hope in stressing how far Tohoku has recovered since the slew of catastrophes.

In an interesting project organized by the Sendai Short Film Festival 2011, sixty directors have created short films 3 minutes and 11 seconds in length that will be programmed together. One section of this project aired last night on satellite television here in Japan.

The films will be three minutes and 11 seconds in length to symbolize March 11, when the disaster struck northeastern and eastern Japan... The directors were asked to make movies on the theme of "tomorrow" to inspire hope for the reconstruction of the devastated region.

====================================================

(added October 27th via @japantimes)

The documentary "Mujo Sobyo" recently held its North American premier in New York.

Shot 50 days after the earthquake on the coast of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, the film captures the ravaged landscape and the voices of survivors calmly recounting their memories of the twin disasters. But the film purposely does not reveal the exact location or the names of the people and their backgrounds.

Discovery News: guest blog #8

I am honoured to receive continuing encouragement from Discovery News with the publication today of my 8th guest blog.

In case you missed any of the previous ones, there are links to them at the bottom of the blog on the Discovery website.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support during these seven months!

A breath of fresh (radiation-free) air

I came across this video (via @silverstar22b) and it put a smile on my face and allowed me to escape to a different world for its five-minute duration.

Beautifully shot. Great music. An amazing protagonist.

Must-see.

Fukushima Fallout: life on the edge of the evacuation zone

This is a new 5-minute news documentary by Justin McCurry, Japan correspondent for Guardian and Observer (more here) and filmmaker Michael Condon (more here).

It was filmed in Minamisoma City, most of which lies in the zone 20-30 km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

I posted this team's previous video (here).

In the Radiation Zone: Revisiting Minamisoma (part 3 of 3)

I have just uploaded Part 3 of our "Revisiting Minamisoma" update. In case you missed it, more information on Part 1 can be found here and on Part 2 here.

While this marks the end of the update Colin and I filmed in Minamisoma in September, we have already filmed the next update which I will start editing next week.

We are going to be filming the stories of the people of the north and sharing them with you until they recover. We hope you will be watching and thinking of them for just as long.

The Shoot, "The Fallout", and "The Japanese People"

The Shoot

I am just back from shooting the 6th episode of my television documentary program, "Tadaima, Ian Desu!" (more on that here and here). It was beautiful weather in Tochigi Prefecture, which is located just south of Fukushima. There has been a lot of negative impact on the area as a result of radiation fallout, with some farms going bankrupt and the tourism industry suffering falling numbers of visitors.

My program, however, focuses on the local people and their stories (the concept for it was conceived prior to March 11), so the filming for me is a welcome relief from the work I am doing in Fukushima. It isn't that we ever forget what has happened or is happening... it's just that we still have hope.

The opening of this month's program was filmed at a Meiji-era (late 1800's) wooden elementary that has now been turned into an art museum (more on the current exhibit here and more on the museum's mission here).

The second segment we filmed was with author and cancer-survivor Fujita Katsuko at her beautiful home in the mountains. Katsuko-san wrote an inspirational book about her fight with cancer. Cancer-free for over 15 years now, she is more active than ever- playing tennis, taking art and tea ceremony classes and hiking in the mountains every week!

After the interview, Katsuko-san honoured the four-person film crew with a traditional tea ceremony in her garden overlooking the beautiful rice paddies and mountains of Nakagawa Town.

I am already looking forward to next month's escape to Tochigi to film with more beautiful people in the gorgeous countryside.

"The Fallout"

This week's recommended reading on the nuclear situation here in Japan is this article from the New Yorker (via @HirokoTabuchi). Please lick on the article to go the New Yorker website to read the article and see the accompanying photo essay.


"The Japanese People"

This week's recommended viewing is this video called "Nihon Jin" (The Japanese People), a ten-minute documentary about Japanese people working for Honda at their facility in Alabama (via @hikosaemon)

Nihon Jin (The Japanese People) by Alexandra Jo Hancock and Christian Sutton from Digital Community Studies on Vimeo.

In the Radiation Zone: Revisiting Minamisoma (part 2 of 3)

Today marks seven months since the March 11 triple disaster.

The title of this article in yesterday's Mainichi sums up my feelings after visiting Minamisoma last month (click the headline for the full article):

I have just posted part 2 of "In the Radiation Zone: Revisiting Minamisoma". In it, I interview people who have recently moved from evacuation centres into temporary housing.

Full recovery from this disaster was never going to happen in seven months. I just pray it doesn't take seven generations.

Weekend Update

It was a three-day weekend here in Japan, with Monday being a national holiday. I have kept busy working on the plan for film festival submissions for my new documentary and also editing the three-part "Revisiting Minamisoma" series I am doing for my YouTube channel (here). I have just finished Part Two and am doing the compression now, so I will upload that in the morning (if you haven't already seen it, Part One is here).

I will be going to Tochigi tomorrow (coincidentally, just south of Fukushima) to film an episode of the monthly documentary series that I am doing for a cable TV station there (more on that here). This is the 6th episode we have filmed and there will be three more in series one. It is in Japanese, but here is the page for the program:

In the Radiation Zone: Revisiting Minamisoma (Part 1 of 3)

I've been silent for a couple weeks as we have been nearing the end of post-production on our (still un-named) feature documentary about the children living in the 20-30 km zone around the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

Producer/ cameraman, Colin, and online editor, Ed, (both from the UK) joined me in my Tokyo studio last month as we fine-tuned the film. The next step is the online/ colour grade and sound mix, and then we will start film festival submissions.

Meanwhile, Colin and I traveled again to Minamisoma last month (six months after the nuclear meltdown and five months after we filmed the documentary there) to see how the city is getting along now.

Here is part 1 of 3 that update, In the Radiation Zone: Revisiting Minamisoma

Thyroid Irregularities Found

One of our biggest fears for the children living in the radiation zone around the damaged nuclear power may be becoming reality. More tests need to be conducted, but thyroid abnormalities have been found in some of the evacuated children.

(Thank you to @44de256 for bringing this article to my attention).