The widespread destruction of coastal areas by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, forced many people to relocate to temporary housing. The Human Security Forum (HSF), a nonprofit organization created by scholars and students belonging to the Human Security Program of the University of Tokyo, has carried out long-term support activities for people affected by the disaster in the Sanriku area of Miyagi Prefecture. The author of this paper is also involved in the disaster recovery process, both as the secretary general of HSF and as an anthropological field worker. The main purpose of this study is to design an effective use of anthropological knowledge for disaster-relief activities from a standpoint of public anthropology, with the aim of engaging issues and audiences beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of anthropology. For that purpose, it pays attention to the fact that the massive support for the disaster-hit areas has imposed a moral and emotional debt on some of the disaster victims. In its analysis of the problem, the study recognizes humanitarian aid as "gift-giving," a familiar notion in anthropology. In classical anthropological literature, such as the research of Marcel Mauss, a gift is never considered "free," as it creates an obligation among the receiver to reciprocate in a way that demonstrates his or her social integrity to the giver of the gift. The huge amount of relief donations and supplies from citizens all over Japan after the March 2011 disaster was distributed in the disaster-stricken areas through the intermediaries of local governments and socially-reliable organizations. Because of the massiveness of the donations and their anonymous nature, the receivers were unable to return in kind to each giver. That unilateral act of donations has continued for a long time, imposing a so-called "burden of compassion" on some of the disaster victims. Against such a background, the current study offers recommendations about the practice of disaster-relief activities from the standpoint of public anthropology, aiming at solving the problem of unilateral donations as discussed earlier. As one hint for a solution, the study introduces the episode of "counter-gifts" extended by temporary housing residents from Minami-Sanriku town in Tome city, the location of HSF's Tohoku branch. In return for the continued support they received, the residents' association started to give back the excess amount of relief supplies, such as canned food, to the HSF staff members. When presenting their counter-gifts, the disaster victims often used the word "osusowake (sharing)." That episode of reciprocity shows that the asymmetric power relation between the supporters and the affected people can be reinterpreted. One piece of advice from a public anthropologist to the people working in disaster-stricken areas would be to emphasize the importance of serving as recipients of return gifts from disaster victims, who so far have only been on the receiving end of unilateral donations. The study concludes that it is meaningful for those engaged in long-term support activities to transform unilateral donations for disaster victims into a more equal relationship of exchanging gifts, thereby reducing their moral and emotional debt and deepening mutual trust.
