Japan
Ishinomaki Shi

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    • Day 23

      Day 271: Tashirojima Cat Island

      October 7 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

      Not joking, it’s a real island! An hour off the coast of Ishinomaki, Tashirojima has over 100 stray felines that are cared for the by elderly residents. The cats were originally brought to help with pest control around the island's silkworm farms; they now outnumber the island residents four to one.

      We took a ferry to the port Odomari where we were greeted by Jeremy (our name for him) who welcomes guests to the island. After everyone got their pictures, we stuck around and sat with Jeremy on the bench and he immediately crawled into Mary’s lap. 10/10 good first cat interaction.

      It takes 36 minutes on foot to cross the island. As you climb the hill, a cat will occasionally appear marching down the road. We stopped by a cat shrine built by the fishermen to worship the cats after a rock fell on one 😢 three cats were chilling by the shrine.

      We weren’t ready for Cat Island Station where at least 40 lazy cats were chilling. Some would soak up the sun on the concrete, others would chase butterflies in the grass, some were sleeping in their cubby holes. However we liked hanging out with the cats on the picnic benches. They usually wanted cuddles and pets. Kieran got a tiny cat that really digs his nails in your leg while Mary got a big fat cat that can’t breathe very well. At noon, the Island Station worker feeds all the cats and mayhem.

      The cats are well cared for and fed by the island owners. They also have a vet that visits twice a month. Sadly some cats clearly are suffering from disease or perhaps cancer, and are at the stages where they stopped eating. It was hard to see them so skinny or sickly, but thats also life. We called those cats Mr. Scraggles for how cute and disheveled they were.

      Eventually we walked the entire island, petting some young kittens along the way and hanging out at another big cat collective. We returned to the station for one more hour and got a nice lap kitty and two lazy boys on our bench. It was hard to leave, but we needed to make our way home.

      Jeremy was at the bottom of the hill and next to the ferry stop to say goodbye to all the guests. He came and stood in front of Mary and got concerned which she dropped her ticket. Jeremy was the best host and we loved every minute of cat island.

      Food:
      Curry udon
      Takoyaki

      Spots:
      Tashirojima
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    • Day 22

      Day 270: Ishinomaki & 3.11 Tsunami

      October 6 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

      Japan is a geological wonderland with its onsens, volcanoes, and mountains. It sits on the boundary of 4 tectonic plates including a subduction plate where the Pacific plate is moving under the Okhotsk plate. For the all the reasons Japan is wonderful to visit, it comes with the steep price of constant natural disasters and lives lost. From earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions to typhoons, landslides, and flooding, the Japanese government is determined to mitigate natural disaster impacts and safety measures are baked into the living experiences here.

      That is why we visited Ishinomaki, the site of the most damaged city from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the 4th most powerful earthquake in the world recorded since seismology began. There is a huge museum dedicated to educating future generations on tsunamis and to remember the lively community that thrived here.

      The city itself is a memorial and they created a reconstruction path where you walk along the buildings and houses that survived and are thriving today. We walked past two farmers markets playing reggae, karaoke bars, and breweries bagging up fresh hops. Children were enjoying their Sunday afternoon and women walking their dogs. However, all the buildings we passed had signs denoting how high the water was or the occasional artifact like a ship propeller next to the building it hit. You also walk past vacant lots with signs naming the previous business or home that resided there.

      The real emotional impact is once you walk down from Ishimaki Shrine and see a completely green and flattened plain where the memorial resides; a huge levee blocks the ocean. This part of the city was completely wiped out; to remember the neighborhoods, they built the park sidewalks mimic the original roads and community centers.

      Before entering the memorial park, you pass the Kadonowaki Elementary School which is now a museum with classrooms preserved so attendees can see how powerful water can be. There are cars and huge concrete blocks absolutely crushed inside.

      The Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Museum itself was super informative and all exhibits focused on tsunami and earthquake survival. We learned so much and the main museum message is “just run away.” They implored that you must focus on yourself and run to high ground as fast as possible. The best way to help others is to shout that a tsunami is coming but do not stop, keep running, and do not hold hands/try to help. Researchers discovered that 37% of people didn’t evacuate until after they completed an activity and that had major consequences.

      The museum/memorial was absolutely worth it, and they want people to visit and see that reconstruction is essential. It made us re-think our current emergency response strategies, and we have so many new survival tips like wringing out your socks and clothes immediately or massaging warmth into your body.

      Now for some irony, we stayed in Ishinomaki for the night and took an afternoon nap. Mary was woken up from the nap from shaking and didn’t want to say anything because obviously our anxiety would be heightened at this time. Kieran also peaked outside and saw that everyone was still relaxing at the farmers market so he didn’t say anything either. We got some sushi for dinner and went to bed.

      Literally at 2:20am we get woken up again by shaking and Mary is adamant now that this is an earthquake. While the house is shaking, Kieran argued that it was the Shinkansen bullet train line (there isn’t one) because Mary has a sleeping disorder and will hallucinate things in her sleep. The house then had a big lateral shake and Kieran finally realized it was an earthquake. We waited for tsunami sirens to sound and made Kieran look up the Japan tsunami website.

      Well we were right, there was a 4.0 magnitude earthquake at 5:07 pm during our nap and then a 4.6 magnitude at 2:20 am and we were 47 km (29 miles) from the epicenter. No tsunami warnings were issued.

      Lesson learned …we will need to work EVEN more on our emergency preparedness strategy since it will likely involve a bit of arguing and sleep disorder gaslighting.

      Food:
      Ramen
      Sushi

      Spots:
      Ishinomaki
      Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Museum
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    • Day 53

      Ishinomaki and Sendai

      October 31, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      We went to the Ishinomaki City Kadonowaki Elementary School Ruins to see the effect of the Great east Japan Earthquake which occurred at 14.46 on 11 March 2011 and created a tsunami which hit the 500km coastline about one hour later, the waves at Ishinomaki, opposite the epicentre of the quake, being 7m high. Japan has quakes every day, especially along the Pacific Coast, but this was one of the most powerful ever experienced in the world. The Richter Scale is exponential, not linear.
      The ground floor of the school was flooded but all three levels of the front of the building were damaged by fire. None of the staff or children died, having moved to higher ground when the warning was received.
      The English former lecturer in English Conversation at the University gave a very good explanation of the aftermath, including the flooding of the ground floor of the Grand Hotel where we were staying and which became an evacuation centre where he stayed. Staff from the British Embassy counselled him about the risk of a nuclear explosion at Fukushima further down the coast wiping out the town, but he decided to stay and undertook PR to get international aid .
      4000 were dead or missing after the tsunami, the highest % casualty rate of any town along the coast.
      We went to the Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park and the Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum. In the Park, there was a memorial stone to an American woman who had been teaching English and who had died in the disaster.
      The whole coastal area of the town had been rebuilt by 2020, including a controversial sea-wall 7.2m high. Some residents thought it wasn't high enough whilst others wanted the money spent on other defences further inland as a neighbouring town had done.
      A few of us went for lunch at a cafe where you keyed your order into a vending machine and pre-paid.
      In the afternoon, we drove to Sendai and stayed at the Hotel Vista. We went to the 31st floor of an office building to get a view of the lively city of one million. Dinner was at a restaurant where we used a tablet to order tapas.
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    • Day 4

      Ishinomaki

      April 12, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      On our way back to the ship, we climbed the big hill (as is our cruise tradition) in Ishinomaki up to Hiyoriyama Park. The park overlooks the shore of Ishinomaki where the tsunami hit. Today building on this devastated land is considered too dangerous, so it remains barren with plans to turn it into a memorial park.Read more

    • Day 56

      Ishinomaki (Sendai)

      April 23, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Ishinomaki Shi, 石巻市

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