Introduction: Searching for the historical roots of 11 March 2011

Debates about preserving traces of disaster for historical commemoration have emerged amid the processes of recovery and healing from the 2011 Great Tōhoku Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disasters. Prompted by the tensions that underlie decisions about the value of maintaining damaged artifacts and structures for public memorialization, this essay introduces the forum “Japan Before Disaster Studies,” which encourages a reconsideration of “disaster heritage” as something that also maintains an active awareness of the roles of technology and science in the depths of Japan’s disaster histories. Reconstructing these roots of disaster histories should enrich a more accessible understanding of the actors, institutions, policies, and discourses connected to various disaster contexts.