the Hitachi City Hall, Hitachi
In <Oh No, There goes Tokyo> Tsutsui W.M mentioned that the “doom-laden dreams” of Japanese popular culture, Tokyo suffered various disasters. From real ones such as earthquakes, tidal waves, fires and so on to the creative ones such as giant monsters, robots. The destructions of Tokyo showed on daily media reveals public’s insecurity awareness. After the lingering trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this kind of imagination is generally understood the earthquakes, tidal which may happen at an uncertain time and inability to deal with these horrors.
Though the apocalyptic imagination is a negative reflection from reality, in my opinion, it could also be considered as a positive thing. Firstly, people could distinguish the virtual and real world although they engaged in it every day. As the American critic said in this chapter, it is not a big deal of the world ending. Secondly, it allays people’s anxieties about the terrors. By creating a happy ending such as the monsters are beaten, the city usually has the hope in the end. Those endings comfort public’s insecurity awareness subconsciously. Moreover, the profound trust of the establishment created in this medium also ease the viewer and give them an experience of what should they do when they meet these situations. Sometimes, the creators also convey their states such as antiwar or antinuclear.
Coming back to reality from the screen, the disasters cannot be simply judged as a bad thing. They brought the sad memory to the public, but renascence also appears due to it. Lots of fantastic architectures are built to memory it, to resolve the problems exposed in the disasters or just deal with the consequences. For example, the Hitachi City Hall built by SANAA is a remade one because the city was damaged by the 2011 earthquake. The construction of new buildings, the regathering of the public – they tell us about the overcoming ability of human and the determination of further prosperous.
Yao Dongni (No.3035447450)