How storytelling through the use of avatars could help Fukushima evacuees express themselves: digital archive for people in the diaspora

ABSTRACT

The Memorytalk online platform allows users to upload animated human stories. They may also choose to display related photos/characters and construct scenarios. Memorytalk may thus constitute a useful collaborative format for survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake, especially evacuees from the town of Namie, who are now relocated in different areas across Japan, particularly as they are hesitant to talk about where they are from. This study examined various narrated animations created by Namie high school students within the Memorytalk platform, specifically for the purpose of investigating their storytelling methods based on Erving Goffman’s role-distance theory. Memorytalk not only allows avatars that provide users with anonymity when expressing a wide range of memories, it also creates (1) opportunities for face-to-face workshops in the context of computer-mediated communication and (2) the therapeutic benefits of being humorous. In sum, the platform may provide users with a form of role distancing in which people in the diaspora can more freely express themselves and also store valuable local memories.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital archive
• Avatar
• Erving Goffman
• Fukushima
• Storytelling
• Therapy

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the people of Namie-cho, Fukushima Prefecture, who have cooperated with our interviews and various archival activities since 2013. I was encouraged by the generosity and kindness of the people in the temporary housing who always greeted me with a smile, even in the midst of their difficult evacuation life. This article is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18K18326

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. People who once lived in the town of Namie in Fukushima are currently housed all across Japan. While the town lifted evacuation orders in two-thirds of the area in March 2017, only 5% of the original population had returned to Namie by June 2020 (Namie Town n.d.).

2. The Memorytalk application was developed by Sasaki (2020). Its purpose is to archive local memories through collaboration between users. The system encourages individuals to freely re-narrate their own memories, as it provides a safe and anonymous way to express personal stories through avatars (Sasaki 2020).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [18K18326]; KDDI Foundation; Function for the Fusion of science and technology.

Notes on contributors

Kanako Sasaki

Kanako Sasaki is a JSPS Fellow at University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology Japan. She is a founder of Archive Namie, experimenting and challenging the way of archiving memories in various media for remembering. Her research focuses on media study under art and sociology, mainly focusing on the power of Art and its expressed stories.