Building back better along the Sanriku coast of Tohoku, Japan: Five years after the '3/11' disaster

摘要

This paper addresses the concept of 'build back better' and its application to reconstruction along the Sanriku coastal region, which was affected by a devastating tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. I argue that although the Japanese government applied build-back-better approaches (fukkõ in Japanese), there have been contradictions, challenges and contestations that have delayed the successful recovery of the affected communities. Empirical material collected from field trips to north-east coastal Japan revealed many problems that have impeded this recovery in the first five years of the rebuilding programme. The results question the usefulness of the build-back-better approach to reconstruction.