Great East Japan Earthquake Tsunami Memorial Museum Iwate TSUNAMI Memorial

Old roadside station “Takada Matsubara” Tapic 45

Tapic 45, a white building with a beautiful pine forest in the background, was an information center for Rikuzentakata City, but it was damaged by the tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The building has been preserved as an earthquake relic to pass on the horror of the tsunami to future generations.

Takada Matsubara and the miraculous single pine tree

It is a bow-shaped sandy beach that stretches from the mouth of the Kesen River to Hirota Bay, and was once one of the most representative beaches on the Rikuchu coast, but it was severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. A forest of tens of thousands of red pine and black pine trees over 300 years old had been planted over a 2km stretch, but they were washed away without a trace. The single pine tree that miraculously survived has become a symbol of reconstruction, and has been preserved as a monument for future generations.

Rikuzentakata City Museum

The Rikuzentakata City Museum, which opened in 1955 as the first publicly registered museum in the Tohoku region, was completely destroyed in the Great East Japan Earthquake, and valuable materials were also devastated. Afterwards, with the cooperation of specialized organizations and local people from all over the country, many of the materials affected by the disaster were rescued and regenerated, and a new facility was established with the functions of the "Sea and Shellfish Museum," which also suffered devastating damage. It opened in November 2014. This is a comprehensive museum that conveys the nature, history, and culture of Rikuzentakata to the future along with the memories of the earthquake.