Breaking his silence about what he experienced that day

Mr. Takayuki Uchihira serves as Deputy Director of the Eco Human Community Cooperation Center (EHC) at the University of Hyogo in Himeji City. The EHC utilizes the university’s knowledge and student manpower to organize collaborative activities with local communities based on requests from local residents, municipalities, industries and other parties. He says his motivation for his current research work derives from his experience of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

On the 20th anniversary of the earthquake, Mr. Uchihira broke his long silence about his experience of the disaster.


Instinct prompts him to rescue people trapped in the massive earthquake

Mr. Uchihira comes from Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Because he wanted to go to college in his hometown’s neighboring Kobe City, facing the peaceful Seto Inland Sea, he chose to study architecture at the Kobe University Faculty of Engineering. When he was a 20-year-old student, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck. At the time, he was living on the third floor of an apartment building near JR Rokkomichi Station in Nada Ward, a part of Kobe City that suffered particularly severe damage.

I remained quite cool-headed while experiencing what was going on through my physical senses, seeing the TV being hurled to the floor, and smelling dust from the strained building. I don’t know why, but everything I remember from that day is toned in blue.

When the shaking subsided, he heard a voice from outside screaming, “Help!” and instinctively rushed out of his room. A terrible scene spread before him, with JR Rokkomichi Station having collapsed together with its elevated structure and almost all buildings around the area destroyed.

I first looked out over the town to grasp the entire situation. Following my gut instinct, I immediately rushed to the rescue of people. It wrung my heart to see a mother who had lost her child in the disaster wail, “Why did you rescue me?” However, I also clearly remember realizing that human beings, by nature, show their emotions openly, just like this mother.

Mr. Uchihira’s parents run a construction company, so he has been used to carrying objects larger than himself since his childhood. Furthermore, when rescuing the earthquake victims, he made good use of his knowledge of dynamics, which deals with the relationship between forces applied to physical bodies and their resulting motion, and in human ability, which consists of the physical and mental capabilities of a person.




Restudy of anthropology turns into a great asset for his life

A few days after the earthquake, he was notified by the university that he should return to his parents’ home. During the several months he was back home in Yamaguchi Prefecture, he read through many books. Those days of reading brought a valuable and indispensable asset to his life.

Thanks to the books such as those on history that I reread during that period, I learned about action initiators of the past and encountered anthropology. Anthropology is the study of humankind and its nature. In the aftermath of the earthquake, I saw the resilience of people and truly realized that people could bounce back from catastrophes. During the immediate post-earthquake period, I took advantage of my knowledge of the difference between human ability and human qualities. Human ability is the range of a person’s capacities to do something. And I confirmed through my own experience that human qualities are a person’s ability to communicate with others and cooperatively bring something forth. After returning to university, I pursued anthropology to explore the fundamental motives that drive human behavior.

Every person has his or her own way of facing the earthquake

After returning to Kobe, Mr. Uchihira became deeply involved in his studies at university, while engaging in post-quake reconstruction efforts.

I was always impressed by the spiritual climate of the Kansai region when I saw someone showing very human behavior, for example, using some everyday minutiae as an opportunity to open up a small conversation. Such behavior is so powerful that it enables one plus one to equal more than two—even four or five. That’s a human quality that is necessary for us to survive, I thought.

In an effort to collect data related to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the university conducted a door-to-door survey to investigate the extent of the damage and the progress of recovery.

I felt very awkward about conducting the survey just after everyone had undergone such indescribable suffering. Through the survey, I realized, among other things, that many of the affected people couldn’t return home to Kobe. A fair few people had no choice but to distance themselves from the disaster area due to their life circumstances.

Photo Bookshelves in Mr. Uchihira’s office lined with books of many different genres


Food allows him to build relationships with key persons

In the meantime, Mr. Uchihira has extended the scope of his study to food, and developed his interest in agriculture in urban areas. In his doctoral dissertation, he wrote about agriculture in urban areas and a farmers’ organization that was led by Mr. Kiichiro Hata, who at the time ran a produce stand in Amagasaki City Agricultural Park in Hyogo Prefecture. Mr. Uchihira conducted interviews for hundreds of hours to find out what had driven Mr. Hata and other organization members to volunteer to distribute meals to victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and what motivated them to engage in town revitalization in and around the Tano area in Amagasaki City, through the area’s special vegetables, called taros, known as “Tano no satoimo.”

I wanted to know more about the people who were taking action to pursue their passion. And consequently, I have reached the conclusion that human qualities a person’s very life.

What was indispensable for him in drawing that conclusion was eating at the same table with people from various walks of life. Mr. Uchihira says, “By eating with someone, you can discover that person’s philosophy on life.”

At the beginning of his master’s course, Mr. Uchihira explored patterns of motives for human behavior while observing the post-quake reconstruction process. During his doctorate course, he had direct contact with people who played an active part in the community and made a positive impact on those around them, to examine the attitude they had toward life as a human being.

I searched for something that would be able to contribute to people’s vibrant lives after the affected areas had recovered. I think that an important factor in post-quake town development is cooperation between the government and local residents. That’s why now I act as an intermediary between the government and local residents by promoting community cooperation in my job.

Photo Books and annual reports that summarize the concept and fruits of community cooperation activities


Working with adults who set themselves up as exemplars

The University of Hyogo’s School of Human Science and Environment explores the interrelationship between human beings and the surrounding environment. It employs multiple perspectives and theoretical as well as practical approaches to find solutions to various problems that cannot be solved using the approaches of conventional study fields. The school’s affiliated Eco Human Community Cooperation Center (EHC), where Mr. Uchihira serves as deputy director, has a mission to serve the local community by using its expertise and knowledge in practical ways. In recent years, EHC has received about 270 requests for consultation annually and it constantly has as many as 80 ongoing projects that are carried out mainly by students.

Mr. Uchihira says that when conducting a university-community cooperation project, he always keeps an eye on the balance between human ability and human qualities.

Project leaders should set a good example for members by demonstrating their human abilities, and get people involved in the project through their human qualities. In order to develop such leaders equipped with both human ability and qualities, I want to build a team with adults who will have fun with students while serving as a model for them.

Photo Genkikko-Shinzaike is a local children’s community center run by students. The center, located on the campus of the University of Hyogo School of Human Science and Environment, offers a meeting place with peace of mind for local parents and children.


Involving local residents and revitalizing the community from within

Enactus is an international educational program whose goal is to develop the next generation of business leaders. It spans 37 countries, more than 1,600 universities and more than 62,000 students worldwide. In 2014, students from EHC participated in the program as the University of Hyogo Himeji Eco Human Campus Team and competed in the Enactus World Cup 2014 in Beijing after getting through the qualifying round in Japan.

The team gave a presentation on a project aimed at preserving and utilizing native crops. This project has been cooperatively run by student groups with the idea of revitalizing local communities with native crops. Mr. Uchihira supervised the team as a faculty advisor.

Students have been working on the project focusing on indigenous crops in Harima, Hyogo Prefecture, such as Harimaoh-garlic, mochimugi-barley, and Himeji-mugwort, which was newly added in 2014, by adopting three approaches: farming them, enjoying their original tastes, and passing them on. In the presentation, students explained that utilizing this native crop preservation system with these three approaches would provide possible solutions to various community issues.

Students from developing countries also participate in Enactus. They are driven by necessity. I wanted our students from the School of Human Science and Environment to learn of the activities of such overseas students through the Enactus World Cup and come to see their social challenges as their own concerns. And hopefully, through their experience on the great stage of the World Cup, they discovered the joy of exerting themselves to the utmost, and experienced what it is to fail.

Photo Opening ceremony of the Enactus World Cup 2014 in Beijing

What is Mr. Uchihira’s vision for EHC?

It often strikes me that the education system in Japan pays little attention to the emotional and sentimental development of students. So, I want EHC to be a place of learning that helps people develop their flexibility as a person and appreciation of diverse values, and thus equips more people with the skills to move society.

Photo Students and children growing Harimaoh-garlic in a local forest, following the instructions of soil experts


Understanding the feelings of people who remain silent, and using human qualities to create connections among local residents

Having endured the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and observed the recovery process in Kobe, Mr. Uchihira fully realized that the society would have been an undesirable place for people with human qualities to be active if such a severe event had not happened.

It is quite natural for survivors of the earthquake to hand down their experience stories to younger generations. At the same time, it is also important to understand and show consideration for the feelings of those who experienced the disaster but will not or cannot talk about it.

I hope Kobe will provide more opportunities for activities for people with human qualities, and will become a “hub city” that leverages human qualities to promote human social ties. I believe that the people of Kobe created the strongest bonds with each other in all of Japan in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. I hope that Kobe will further cultivate fertile ground for talent who will create value for the next generations.

(Photographed by Kyoko Kataoka, interviewed and written by Kaori Nikaido and Aya Yamamori)