WHERE THE DEAD PAUSE AND THE JAPANESE SAY GOODBYE

Produced by:

KBOO

Program::

Locus Focus

Air date:

Mon, 10/05/2015 - 10:15am to 11:00am

A look at Japanese culture and spirituality in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

THIS PROGRAM WAS ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s family owns a Buddhist temple 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In March 2011, after the earthquake and tsunami, radiation levels prohibited the burial of her Japanese grandfather’s bones. At the same time, Mockett grieved for her American father, who had died unexpectedly. As Japan mourned thousands of people lost in the disaster, she wondered: how does one cope with overwhelming grief?

On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Mockett about her voyage through Japanese culture and spirituality in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that shook the country to its core.

Maire Mutsuki Mockett is the author of WHERE THE DEAD PAUSE AND THE JAPANESE SAY GOODBYE. Her first novel Picking Bones from Ash was shortlisted for the 2010 Saroyan Prize and the Asian American Literary Awards for Fiction and was a finalist for the Paterson Prize. She lives in San Francisco.