Book Review

Abstract

For many of us, we can remember exactly where we were on 11 March 2011. Whether we were in Japan or elsewhere, within minutes of the mega earthquake striking, images of what was occurring were being broadcast globally. We watched, shocked, unable to find the right words as the tsunami rolled into and over the coastline. Over the ensuing hours, we tried to learn more about what had happened, in general terms, but also, often, at a micro level to those we knew. As the day went on, so the initial disaster seemed to have peaked, and attention could largely start turning to thinking about survival and recovery. But, of course, the disaster was not over. The third element was still building to its explosive contribution to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Disaster the following day in the form of the events at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. In the days, months, and years, many of us grappled to understand what had really happened during the days, weeks, and longer of the disaster. For the disaster did not even end on 12 March. Indeed, it is questionable whether it has ended even now in 2022. While disaster studies had remained an ominously under-studied area of Japanese studies prior to 2011, in the years that followed, many academic studies have been published. Without doubt, as someone who had been working on disasters prior to the events of 2011, Aldrich’s expertise and contribution to this body of literature is a useful addition in the form of this book. But this conclusion comes with caveats. Returning to the first paragraph of this review, as noted, many of us remember the events of 2011. But, for more and more students, amongst others, the memories are not so clear and there may be little or knowledge of the events. Outside Japanese Studies, the problem may be even greater. In that respect, Aldrich’s study will be extremely useful. However, I wonder whether they will even find the study. The main title of the book is ‘Black Wave’, a term which resonates so much with us who watched the images of the tsunami as it poured over walls, roads, and fields. Without that knowledge, however, it sounds more like a cultural counterpart to the ‘Korean Wave’. While the subtitle helps, beyond the Japanese Studies community, ‘3/11’ is not wellknown, so I fear that it may not reach those who would benefit from reading it. Further, the image of a crane and