The proposed research investigated the politics of death and memorialisation in post-disaster
Japan and Indonesia. The first set of data was collected in the area of Yuriage, Natori City (Miyagi Prefecture) devastated by the Great East Japan Disasters (2011). I have recorded a number of formal, informal, public and private ceremonies carried out for the souls and memory of the victims of 3.11 and disaster story telling. The second set of data was collected in Banda Aceh on the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami, Indonesia. I collaborated with researchers of Syiah Kuala University and collected information about memorial sites, ceremonies, and the ways in which survivors deal with death. Based on the data collected, this research argues for the inclusion of memorialisation and mourning facilities within standard programmes of disaster recovery. The traumatic experiences of disasters call for spaces, places and objects of memory. Memorial ceremonies, monuments, gardens and museums are all tangible and intangible forms of remembering disasters and their victims. Because of the regular delays in the provision of mourning facilities, however, this research shows that mourning families and friends of the victims are often left alone to deal with their loss and trauma during the recovery period. It also suggests that the absence of mourning facilities has a direct negative impact on social recovery. Drawing from ethnographic observations in Japan and Indonesia, this paper finally argues that mourning facilities can form a systematic basis for the social recovery of disaster communities.