At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, northeastern Japan was struck by a powerful earthquake centered some 24 kilometers beneath the sea and about 130 kilometers east-southeast of the Oshika Peninsula. The Great East Japan Earthquake, as it has come to be known, is estimated to have had a magnitude of 9.0, the largest ever measured in Japan. It triggered a massive tsunami that wreaked havoc along northern Japan’s Pacific Coast, particularly in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures. Even leaving aside the material damage, the human cost of the quake and tsunami—15,900 dead, 2,520 missing—makes it one of the most tragic earthquake disasters known to history.

I first visited the seriously affected region in the summer of 2011. I went for two reasons: I felt uneasy about my lack of a sense of reality about a catastrophe that had happened in my own country; and I wanted to confirm with my own eyes what the actual situation in the stricken areas was. I began creating works dealing with the Great East Japan Earthquake not long after the disaster struck.

"Home" is a series of photographs of sites in the affected region where buildings destroyed by the quake and tsunami had presumably stood. More than 120,000 buildings were completely destroyed in the disaster. Today, the region is dotted with countless sites where buildings have collapsed or only their foundations remain. Standing at what seems to be where a building had stood, one gets a sense of the building's presence. By as time goes by and those sites are redeveloped or become overgrown with vegetation, it gets harder to discern the scars of disaster with the naked eye. I believe it is important to make a record of these constantly changing scenes.To keep memories of this disaster from fading, I think it is important to keep creating and exhibiting works on this theme.

２０１１年３月１１日１４時４６分、牡鹿半島の東南東約１３０キロ、深さ約２４キロを震源とする東北地方太平洋沖地震が発生。マグニチュード９．０と国内観測史上最大規模の地震となり、地震に連動して発生した巨大津波は岩手県、宮城県、福島県など、太平洋沿岸部に甚大な被害をもたらした。この地震による人的被害だけでも死者１万５９００人、行方不明者２５２０人という未曾有の大震災となった。被災地へ向かったきっかけは、同じ国で起こった出来事に現実感の無いことに違和感があったことと、被災地の現状を自身の眼で確認しておきたかったからだ。東北地方太平洋沖地震を題材にした作品は、震災後に制作を開始。

　作品“Home”は、被災地で地震の被害に遭った建物が建っていたと思われる場所を撮影したものである。東北地方太平洋沖地震では全壊建物が１２万棟以上になった。現在、被災地には建物が倒壊し、建物の基礎部分しか残されていない場所が数多く存在する。建物が建っていたと思われる場所に立つと、そこに建物の気配を感じる。しかし震災後、建物が建っていた場所も整備されたり、草木が生い茂ったりと、時間と共に肉眼では被害の様子が分かりにくい。この刻一刻と変化していく光景を記録することと、震災の記憶を風化させないためにも、作品を制作し続け発表していく事が大切なことであると考えている。