Japan

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 MuseumRead more