Kintsugi identities in the post-catastrophe Japan: the hibakusha in the post-1945 and post-2011 literature

Kintsugi identifies the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using lacquer mixed up with powdered gold, silver or platinum: the result is a new piece of art whose beauty resides in the emphasis given to the injuries. The surface of the manufacture is crossed by gold and silver sparkling ribs, proud as a knight who shows his wounds. A watchful gaze of the Tohōku area after the 11th March 2011 Daishinsai reflects the kintsugi identity of Japanese society in its full controversy: the evacuees at the refugee camps are still seeking aids from the Japanese government; the workers at the Fukushima Daiichi are still fighting to obtain justice for the violation of any occupational safety regulations by TEPCO; the collective burials have swept away the identity of those injured to death by the tsunamis and survivors are still struggle to restore those lives, in order to not let them fell into oblivion. All these figures have in common the same experience of the three-fold catastrophe of 11 March 2011: they all represent different pieces of the same pot, held together by gold and silver ribs, the hibakusha identity. Japanese literature stands as a spokesperson for this social fragmentation returning the voice of the victims and by encouraging Japanese ganbarism it reveals the internal corruption which divides Japanese society in terms of identity: disowned or recognized identity; awarded or hampered identity; protected or refused identity. In a word, kintsugi identity of contemporary Japan.