Iza! Kaeru Caravan! In Tokyo

Disaster prevention art program in which people can enjoy learning about disaster prevention will take place at several venues in Tokyo. Based on the existing community-led practice, this program explores new style of disaster drill and the shape of local communities by utilizing the know-how of "Iza! Kaeru Caravan!", the new disaster drill, and affiliating hosts, citizen and supporting organizations.

In 2009, the program focuses on preparing tools for drills, establishing head office and training core-staff, and implements experimental trials at a few venues in Tokyo.

Event Info

■vol.1
Date: 2009.10.4
Venue: Daiichi Terashima Elementary School, Sumida-Ward, Tokyo
Main Organization: Ichidera Kototoi as a Disaster Prevention Area

■vol.2 and more
Details will be forthcoming shortly.

■ Hosted by TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT, Tokyo Culture Creation Project at Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, NPO +arts

About Iza! Kaeru Caravan!

Iza! Kaeru Caravan! is a new type of disaster drill program co-developed by +arts and the artist Hiroshi Fuji. Based on the toy barter trading program "Exchange Bazaar", invented by Fuji in 2000, that can attracts broader range of audiences and creates an enjoyable atmosphere, the program turns bazaar's "hands-on corner" into amusing disaster drills such as "fire-fighting", "rescue" and "first-aid". The participants are able to learn about disaster prevention and acquire related skills while enjoying themselves. This new attempt has attracted young families who were not necessarily proactive about disaster drill before and had total of 7,000 family members participated in the 10th anniversary events for the Great- Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, over 19 days at seven different venues, in Kobe in 2005. In 2006, in order to expand the program throughout Japan , the program changed its name from "Kobe Kaeru Caravan 2005" to "Iza! Kaeru Caravan!", and held events in Yokohama, Niigata, Osaka and Miyazaki. The program has continued to organize events in different cities in Japan including Tokyo since 2007 while it starts to launch in the cities of other Asian countries.With the help of +arts, most of the cities that held the program for the first time conducted the second and following events voluntarily. http://kaerulab.exblog.jp

About +arts

Founded in 2006, +arts aims to solve social issues such as education, disaster prevention, city planning, welfare, environment, international cooperation and more, and contribute to vitalize communities for all citizens, including children and people overseas, by adopting the artistic ideas and free, creative mind of artists (which we call "arts" as the inclusive term). http://plusarts.exblog.jp