Professor Gesine Foljanty-Jost, a japanologist at the University of Halle, hosted the event. She and her team had invited audience members to attend a public talk titled “Fukushima – Five Years Later.” But there were also opportunities for nonverbal dialogue: In the evening, the guests and German students danced together in the University Sports Centre’s hip-hop group.

Dr Taro Daikoku, a professor of political science at Fukushima University, has been organising these kinds of trips to Germany for his students in hopes of keeping the memory of the 2011 disaster alive. At the time, an earthquake followed by a tsunami caused a nuclear accident that left wide swaths of the area uninhabitable. While Germany decided to phase out nuclear energy in response, Japan continues to use it. Much of the discussion revolved around this topic.