Whose lessons do we learn? On the absence of women's memory in public 3.11 disaster memorial museums in Japan

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster (“3.11”), numerous disaster memorial facilities were established across the affected Tōhoku region. These institutions aim to preserve the memory of the disaster and convey its lessons to prevent future tragedies. However, the question of whose experiences and lessons are being represented in these memorials is rarely critically examined.This study analyzes visual materials, including photographs and video testimonies of survivors, displayed at all 24 public disaster memorial museums focusing on 3.11, through a gender lens using a systematic coding method. In total, 2644 items that feature people were analyzed. Preliminary findings reveal a significant imbalance: almost 40 percent of the visual materials show only men, while just 8 percent depict only women. The remainder either include mixed groups or the gender composition was not identified. The disparity is even more pronounced in video testimonies, where 73 percent of the videos feature only male speakers, 20 percent only female speakers, and the remaining 7 percent of the video materials feature mixed groups of men and women.Drawing on qualitative interviews with museum directors and staff, as well as existing genderfocused disaster literature, the research identifies several factors contributing to the underrepresentation of women. These include limited awareness of gendered dimensions of disaster risk and recovery, the specific impacts of 3.11 on different communities, and prevailing cultural expectations regarding gender roles, highlighting the importance of changes in overall society in order to achieve more inclusive and equitable disaster response and memory representations.