The Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum, located at Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park, is based on the concept of “a place to pass down our memories to the future in order to protect precious lives.”
The building is circular, with an indoor diameter of 40 meters and a scattering of slender columns constructed and arranged to support the roof. It is designed so that when pine trees planted around the building grow, a continuous inside-outside space will be realized. Transparent glass walls allow for a panoramic view, including Mt. Hiyori, Zenkaida-Inari Shrine, the Kadonowaki Elementary School Ruins, Memorial Circle, and the swirling smoke from Nippon Paper Industries’ plant chimneys. The roof on the north side, the highest point of the building, stands at 6.9 meters, the height of the tsunami at its peak when it struck this area.
We also provide information on the earthquake disaster and lessons for protecting precious lives from tsunami using panels and videos, including videos that make it clear that running away is the only way to save your life from a tsunami through actual tsunami footage and messages from disaster victims as well as an introduction to earthquake disaster memorial facilities and disaster storyteller groups in Miyagi Prefecture and efforts involved in regional reconstruction in the wake of the earthquake disaster. (Video appearances: 90 people from 79 groups)

Languages available: English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean
• Leaflets are available in English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), and Korean.
• Some information panels can be switched to English, Chinese (simplified) Chinese (traditional), or Korean (scan QR code).

Introducing the Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum

The Minamihama area, the location of the Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park and Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum, is situated at the mouth of the former Kitakami River in the southern part of Ishinomaki City. Prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake, it was a residential area with approximately 1,800 households and 4,500 people. In the natural disaster, more than 500 residents died as a result of the earthquake, tsunami, fire, or land subsidence.
The Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park was established through the cooperation of the national government, Miyagi Prefecture, and Ishinomaki City. It is a place of mourning and requiem for all whose lives were lost in the disaster and serves as a center for passing on the memories and lessons of the disaster to future generations. In addition to the Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum, Memorial Circle, Prayer Space, and Ishinomaki City Memorial Monument, the park features a signboard that says, “Ganbaro! Ishinomaki” (“Hang in there, Ishinomaki!”), which was created just one month after the tsunami and is now in its third iteration. The signboard is a symbol of resilience that offers a message of support and encouragement to the people of Ishinomaki.

Languages available: English, Chinese (simplified)
• Leaflets are available in English and Chinese (simplified).
• There is an English signboard (scan QR code).
• There is a signboard that can be switched between English and Chinese (simplified) (scan QR code).

Fires occurred in various stricken areas caused by damage to propane gas cylinders and automobiles swept along by the tsunami due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. This former school is open to the public as the only remaining building damaged by tsunami fires. Records showing that the Ishinomaki Plain was hit repeatedly by tsunamis throughout history are also on display, and lessons from the earthquake are conveyed through videos as well as actual items and the testimonies of people who survived the disaster.
More than 500 citizens died in the Minamihama and Kadonowaki areas, but the children and teachers who were at the school when the earthquake struck evacuated to Mt. Hiyori as they had been trained to do, and many lives were saved. This is a good reminder of the importance of evacuation to protect lives, including evacuation drills during normal times, and the importance of knowing the area.
It is not possible to enter the main school building, but the interior can be seen from an external passageway. In the adjoining indoor playground, vehicles crushed and twisted by the tsunami are on display, along with a restored prefabricated unit once used for temporary housing.
Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park and MEET Kadonowaki are also nearby, so it is easy to visit all three.

Languages available: English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean
• Some exhibits are written in both Japanese and English.
• A tablet can be rented (for a fee) offering information in English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), or Korean.

Named from the initials of the March 11 Education & Exhibition Theater, this private facility was built with donations and other funds to promote connections through 3.11 and encourage people to move forward together for the future.
The theater has two large screens that show how more than 100 residents taking action to evacuate sets in motion a “chain of evacuation,” which can save many lives. An exhibit of disaster-related items received from bereaved families, along with an animated cartoon from the viewpoint of children who experienced the disaster, help visitors to reflect on the disaster. Located near the Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park and Ishinomaki City Kadonowaki Elementary School Ruins, MEET Kadonowaki also offers a program in which participants can use an augmented reality app or listen to storytelling to relive the lost townscape and experience the lessons learned from the March 11 evacuation.

Before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were nine administrative districts in the Okawa area, with about 2,500 people living in 720 households. On March 11, 2011, a massive tsunami caused by a huge earthquake ran up the Kitakami River and hit Okawa Elementary School, which is located 3.7 kilometers inland from the sea, at a height of 8.6 meters. In the Okawa area, 416 people, including 74 elementary school students and 10 teachers, lost their lives.
The damaged school building has been maintained and opened to the public as a place of memorial and mourning, as well as a place to think about life. The existing facilities have been preserved with as little alteration as possible in order to show the actual damage caused by the tsunami and the importance of disaster preparedness and evacuation. The inside of the facility can be viewed from the outside, and a memorial monument and flower-offering stand have also been set up.
The adjacent Okawa Tsunami Memorial Museum has a multi-purpose space and displays materials that describe the situation from the moment of the earthquake to the arrival of the tsunami and show the damage suffered in the area.

Language available: English
* Some exhibits are in both Japanese and English.

This market was opened in the city center along the Kitakami River. Here, you can feel the energy of Ishinomaki and enjoy the delicious foods of the district. The market on the first floor offers reasonable prices on fresh seasonal seafood, processed marine products, agricultural products, local products, and local specialty products that support earthquake recovery. There is also a wide choice of souvenirs unique to Ishinomaki. On the second floor is a spacious food court with about 140 seats where visitors can enjoy the freshest seafood in rice bowls, meal sets, ramen, and other dishes. The terrace seats overlooking the Kitakami River are also popular.
Parking is free for up to 2 hours in the multi-story parking lot across from the facility. It is also close to the Ishinomori Manga Museum, so is a good stopover spot before or after sightseeing.

This museum (also known as the Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum) is dedicated to the manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of such masterpieces as Cyborg 009 and Kamen Rider, offering a three-dimensional representation of his imaginative world.
Shotaro Ishinomori was born in Nakada-cho, Tome District, Miyagi Prefecture (now Tome City). After making his manga debut in 1954 with Nikyu Tenshi (Second Class Angel), he worked on numerous hit comics and had a major impact on Japanese special effects and animation. During his student days, he used to visit movie theaters in the Nakaze area of Ishinomaki City. He decided to build a museum in the same area to create a lively atmosphere in the city center of Ishinomaki. The spaceship-inspired shape of the museum is based on his own idea.
The building is located in Nakaze at the mouth of the former Kitakami River, and the first floor was flooded by a 6.5-meter-high tsunami due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. The exhibits on the first floor were washed away, but learning a lesson from the tsunami that hit the area 100 years earlier, the original drawings and other valuable materials had been stored at a height of 8 meters or more, and they escaped the flooding.
The museum’s interior is all about amusement with exhibits that emphasize movement and convey the fun of dreams and manga to visitors.
The walking route from JR Ishinomaki Station to the museum is called “Ishinomaki Manga Road” and is dotted with murals and statues of characters originally created by Shotaro Ishinomori. Walking along the pathway is an enjoyable treasure hunt, with characters hidden everywhere, such as on a bench or postbox.

This is a hub for tourism and industry built on a hill in the center of the Ogatsu area overlooking the beautiful sea. At the “Ogatsu Tanakoya” tourism and local products center, visitors can purchase local specialties such as seafood and processed products, and eat sushi or soba noodles.
Ogatsu was one of the areas most severely hit by the tsunami in Ishinomaki City, with 80% of the houses in the village completely destroyed. The Ogatsu Inkstone Museum, which is currently located next to the Tourism and Local Products Center , was completely destroyed by the earthquake and was rebuilt in this area in 2020.
Ogatsu stone, a local specialty, is resistant to compression and warping, and has a low water absorption rate, so it is used in many ways, including for inkstones, roofing material for buildings, and tableware. The Ogatsu Inkstone Museum conveys this traditional culture, and even inkstones damaged by the disaster were washed off and redisplayed. The largest inkstone in Japan, weighing 500 kg and 160 cm in length, is one of the highlights of the museum. Visitors can purchase souvenirs made with Ogatsu stone at the museum shop.

The commercial area that includes Seapal Pier Onagawa, the Hama (Beach) Terrace local market, the Onagawa Machinaka Koryukan (community center), and the Onagawa Town Travel Information Center “Puratto” is registered as Onagawa Michi-no-Eki Roadside Station and has become a recreation spot for local residents and visitors. The brick promenade from Onagawa Station to the sea is lined with shops of all kinds and also functions as a safe evacuation route in the other direction to high ground in an emergency. This area, with the pedestrian promenade made of brick, earned the 2018 Urban Landscape Award (grand prize) from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the Urban Spaces category.
Seapal Pier Onagawa is home to a variety of businesses, including retail stores, cafés and restaurants, and handicraft studios, while Hama (Beach) Terrace is a local market that sells fresh fish and processed marine products, and also includes restaurants where visitors can enjoy seafood. One may also visit the Onagawa Machinaka Koryukan, a community center with panels and models that showcase the town’s reconstruction work.
Adjacent to the Onagawa station building is a hot spring facility, Onagawa Onsen Yupoppo, with trailer house lodging facilities available, making it easy to recommend staying near the station for sightseeing. Other nearby sites to visit include the Former Onagawa Police Box Disaster Memorial Ruins, and Mash Park Onagawa where you can enjoy playground equipment such as motifs of sea creatures. In winter, the area from Onagawa Station Square to the brick promenade is beautifully illuminated, creating a magical atmosphere.

The former Onagawa police box was a two-story reinforced concrete structure built in 1978 with an office on the first floor and a rest area on the second floor.
Buildings hit by the 2011 tsunami are thought to have been knocked over by the force of the undertow pulling the piles out from their foundations. This is one of the rare cases of a reinforced concrete building collapsing or being toppled by a tsunami. It is therefore being preserved untouched as it fell and allowed to deteriorate for observation over time, along with other debris carried by water and left at that spot. Panels on the surrounding wall of the observation path present photos of the townscape of Onagawa before and immediately after the disaster, and information about the steps leading to the town’s reconstruction.

An artistic park with colorful playground equipment and motifs of sea creatures such as sea slugs, sea stars, and coral. The town of Onagawa, which had the highest rate of human casualties and damage to houses from the Great East Japan Earthquake, accepted the donation of the park from Mash Holdings, a company headquartered in Tokyo. The motivation for the donation was to “get the best smiles from children.” The construction was funded by donations from charity events and charity campaigns, and the playground equipment was designed by Yoichi Takada, a world-renowned sculptor. The space blends in well with Onagawa Town, whose residents chose to create a town with a view of the sea. The park stimulates children’s senses and nurtures their imagination.

The Higashi-Matsushima City 3.11 Disaster Recovery Memorial Park was established in the Nobiru district as a place to memorialize the people who lost their lives in the disaster, offer their souls repose, and provide a record of the disaster for future generations. The former Nobiru Station building was renovated and serves as the Higashi-Matsushima City 3.11 Disaster Recovery Memorial Museum at the park. Visitors can view photos and videos documenting the earthquake and tsunami and the progress made toward reconstruction. Adjacent to the museum is a memorial plaza with a monument at the center that features wavy patterns up to 3.7 meters high, the same height as the devastating tsunami that hit this area. The names of every lost person are inscribed on a plaque inside, with circles representing the spirits of the dead on the back, to symbolize a “never forget” frame of mind.
Also, the bent rail line and twisted pillars at the former train station platform are preserved intact and shown as vivid reminders of the power of the tsunami so that future generations may learn about the natural disaster.

Language available: English
• The museum provides a pamphlet in English.
• Some exhibits have both Japanese and English descriptions.

Promotional Video for the Higashi-Matsushima City 3.11 Disaster Recovery Memorial Museum

A disaster prevention experience-type lodging facility that was created by renovating the former Nobiru Elementary School, closed due to the tsunami damage. The name “KIBOTCHA” is a playful take on the word “hope” that includes the meanings of “disaster prevention” and “the future,” so named to convey the importance of life to children, who are the bearers of the future. The facility has rooms to accommodate from one person to a large number of people, plus an area for outdoor camping, glamping, and daytime barbecues. There is also an all-weather indoor playroom and fitness room. Located near Okumatsushima Sports Park, it is an ideal place to stay for sports training camps.
The facility also provides disaster prevention education through exhibitions of disaster equipment and video materials, disaster prevention education camps supervised by former members of the Self-Defense Forces, and storytelling events led by disaster victims.

Hoya, also called “the pineapple of the sea” because of its distinctive shape, is one of the leading marine products of Sanriku. The most common dishes using hoya (sea squirts) are sashimi and vinegared dishes, but the Ishinomaki area has a traditional dish called hoya-zoni (rice cakes in soup with dried sea squirt and vegetables). As well as an ingredient in the dish, hoya are used in the soup stock after they have been salted, grilled, and dried, producing a robust umami flavor without the pungency of seafood. Ingredients in the soup dish may include rehydrated hoya, grilled mochi, vegetables, swirl kamaboko, parsley, and salmon roe. This is a local dish, locally produced for local consumption.

Richly flavorful udon noodles made by kneading into the dough nori (laver), carefully cultivated offshore at Oomagarihama. The noodles look like soba, but as soon as you take a bite, the delicious aroma of nori will fill your mouth. Dried noodles are also sold as a popular souvenir. We recommend the zarunori udon, which is boiled noodles plunged into cold water and served cold with soy dip.

Onagawa Town maintains a thriving aquaculture industry for oysters, scallops, coho salmon, and sea squirts, and its catch of saury (sanma) is among the highest in Japan. A wide variety of seafood is landed at Onagawa Port off Kinkasan, one of the world’s three largest fishing grounds. Kaisendon, a rice bowl topped with plenty of fresh seafood, is a leading gourmet dish of Onagawa. Restaurants in the town serve their own unique seafood rice bowls, earning a reputation for volume and tastiness.