On May 31st members of the Japan-China Association for Short Poetry—assembled for their 2nd annual “Carillon Street” roundtable discussion, an event founded in 2008 as part of the journal of the same name. Participants included Chancellor MIZUTA Noriko, Advisor Murai Takashi, Professor Chen Yan of Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Professor Du Feng Gang of the Dalian University of Technology, Professor Liu Li Guo also of DFUFL, and JIU Professor Ruan.

Taking place in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, the panel took “Disaster and Literature” as its topic of discussion. Not limiting discussion merely to the most recent Japanese calamity, each member spoke of their own life experiences as they related to such topics as wartime destruction and the genesis of so-called “disaster literature.” As images of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami were also broadcast in China as they occurred, the disaster had the unique quality of transcending national borders, bringing the international community closer to the distress that the Japanese felt while asking what they could do to help.

A summary of the roundtable discussion will be printed in the upcoming 7th issue of “Carillon Street,” which will also include essays and poems from the participants on the topic of disaster.