[PRI] Information Session for 2026 Fukushima Field Trip (September 16)

ICU's Peace Research Institute (PRI) would like to invite you to join us for the Fukushima Field Trip “Regeneration and Conflict Transformation: Nuclear Power in Fukushima” (October 30th through November 1st).

Information Session

The information session for this field trip will be held as follows. If you are interested in joining us, we ask that you attend the session. If unable to attend it, please contact us: icupri@icu.ac.jp

Date: September 16 (Wednesday)

Time: 12:00~13:00

Meeting format: in person

Venue: H-224 (Honkan)
Pre-registration is not required. Please come directly to the venue.

Background 
The PRI has conducted an annual research field trip to bring ICU students into contact with people who can engage them in productive dialogue about peace-and-conflict-related issues. From AY2022–2024, the PRI conducted a domestic field trip to the areas of Fukushima affected by the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. These field trips have been successful as a means of introducing ICU students (particularly international students and OYRs) to the challenges of regeneration in the former disaster area, and maintaining domestic and international focus on the continued challenges in the area.

The objectives of the field trip have now become firmly established in two major areas, beneficial to the students and to the former disaster area in Fukushima: (1) to increase student awareness of the March 2011 disaster, and to encourage in-person research into the nuclear disaster and ongoing regeneration in Fukushima; (2) to support the people who have returned to the former disaster area through friendship, memory, education, and economic support.

Objective
The project will facilitate ICU students interested in Peace Studies and other fields (Politics and International Relations, Environmental Studies, Natural Sciences, Humanities, Sociology, Media and Communication, and others) to visit towns in the Fukushima former nuclear exclusion zone and to meet residents, reconstruction workers, activists, artists, etc. Students will use their firsthand experiences of observations and discussions with Fukushima residents and workers to deepen and reassess their understanding on a range of environmental and political issues including nuclear fission power; earthquake and natural disaster responses; Japanese local and national government policy; agriculture, fisheries, and food safety; and education on natural and human-made disasters. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us: icupri@icu.ac.jp.

We look forward to seeing you there!