Bookstart in Japan after the Tsunami

Izumi Satou (l) Bookstart Japan (r)

Izumi Satou from Bookstart Japan recounts how, after the tsunami of 2011, local authorities worked together to restore Bookstart, and the difference the programme made to a community ravaged by the disaster

One of the many effects of the huge earthquake and the tsunami on 11 March 2011 in the north-east of Japan was to draw Bookstart programmes to a halt throughout the region.
 
Rikuzentakata city in Iwate was very badly hit by the tsunami. The city library was destroyed and other local facilities such as the city council and community centres also disappeared in an instant.
 
Previously, Bookstart was being delivered at the seven-month baby's health check since 2004 through a close partnership between the library service, health department and local volunteers. However, many of the librarians and staff involved in Bookstart died in the disaster, while many children and parents who received Bookstart packs were affected by the tsunami in other ways too.
 

Getting Bookstart back up and running

It was very difficult to continue with even the routine business of the city council for a long time. As part of the reconstruction process, the Iwate authority sent an officer to the lifelong education department of Rikuzentakata to assist in the development and construction of the city.

When, in September - six months after the tsunami - the health department decided to restart its seven-month baby health check, someone informed the officer of how they had run Bookstart along with the health check before the tsunami. Though he hadn't heard of it before, he thought it was a great idea and decided to start it up again. So, along with help from volunteers, he got the Bookstart programme back up and running again.
 
More local people joined as volunteers and the local authorities held training sessions for all the new volunteers. Bookstart Japan provided the province with replacement books and other materials in the Bookstart packs at no cost.
 
The volunteer leader said that when she was asked for help, she thought she must do it. She told us that Bookstart was for babies and parents, but also it was for herself too. As a victim of the disaster, she was very glad to be able to do something for someone else as she had been helped by others during the tsunami. She said that sharing books with babies at the Bookstart venue filled her with joy.
 
People whose lives had been destroyed by the tsunami also really appreciated having a place for Bookstart. A baby came with just his grandparents, since his parents both died in the tsunami. Mums came with their children and said that they were relieved to know that the city decided to continue running Bookstart even after the tsunami. They said that they just didn't have time to simply sit down and share books since the disaster - what had belonged to an ordinary life before, had now become extraordinary, they said. With a Bookstart pack which they could take back home, they experienced their old life again, even if for just a short time every day.
 

Izumi Satou spoke at the 'Celebrating 20 years of Bookstart' event at this year's IBBY Congress.

Find out more about Bookstart at the IBBY Congress event