08/03/2021
Friends, helpers, volunteers, neighbors all over the world, we could not have come this far without a decade of support from all of you! We thank you for caring for us, dear friends. Read on as we update you on Kesennuma’s 10th year of rebuilding effort after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.
We now have two beautiful bridges across our bay. The arched one opened in April 2019, connecting our Oshima Island to the mainland. Our island will no more be isolated if disaster strikes, as it was 10 years ago!
The other is a sleek, soaring cable-stayed bridge that just opened on March 6. This bridge was an unfinished link in Miyagi Prefecture part of Sanriku Expressway that stretches 359 km from Sendai to Hachinohe in the northern part of Japan. You’re missing something if you haven’t checked the video of the commemorating “Niagara” of fireworks we posted a few days ago! Thanks to this mostly toll-free highway, all built at heights safe from any future tsunami, Kesennuma is now only a 90-minute drive from Sendai. That’s an hour shorter than before!
Overlooking these bridges and Kesennuma Bay, our Memorial Park will open on the tenth anniversary of the disaster. A monument, the Sail of Prayers, stands there as a symbol of remembrance and appreciation. Built with support that included crowd-funding, the monument evokes hands raised together in prayer, or a sail that we command with a will to ride fortune’s shifting winds into a hopeful future.
Another big milestone for us is coming up in this 10th anniversary month. A large highway rest area complete with a local specialty section and eat-ins, familiar to the Japanese as “michi-no-eki” (meaning “roadside station”), will open near Oya Beach on March 28. A great line-up of Kesennuma-made products will welcome you, including a fish tank to provide visitors with the freshest catch. You’ll enjoy a great view of the white-sand beach from a large window or from the roof deck. The beach will open this summer, a triumph for the local people whose unrelenting effort has changed the original plan for a seawall in a way to preserve the beach.
Yes, we’ve come a long way. Let us share with you some more milestones from our past ten years:
The debris processing was completed in March 2014.
The first of the public houses and buildings built in response to the disaster became available in January 2015. A total of 2,087 household units in 35 locations were prepared, with the last one completed in May 2017.
Under the neighborhood relocation program, a total of 907 parcels of land were prepared in 46 new neighborhood locations safe from a tsunami. The first handover of the land was in March 2014 and the final one, which took some time due to land elevation work, was handed over in March 2019.
The Land Readjustment Programs elevated the land by 1.3 to 5.5 meters above sea level for a total of 85.8 hectares (212 acres) of land. The elevated area includes Shishiori, where the large ship No. 18 Kyotokumaru was swept inland by the tsunami. The ship was dismantled and removed in 2013, reflecting the residents’ vote against preservation. In this tsunami-and-fire devastated Shishiori district, a health and welfare center was relocated inland with major support from Taiwan Red Cross.
The inner-bay Naiwan area, the heart of the city, was also elevated. The Naiwan community worked hard to reach a consensus and negotiate with the prefectural government against a high sea wall -- holding more than 150 meetings in five years while trying to rebuild their own homes and businesses. The result? Come visit the shopping zone built ingeniously and beautifully combined with the seawall. So as not to spoil the refreshing bay view, the seawall, in some parts along the bay, adopts a flap-gate system that actually becomes taller if stricken by a tsunami!
Our list of milestones goes on.
Our city hospital was relocated and renewed in November 2017. The city library equipped with a childcare center opened in the summer of 2018, with Indonesia generously supporting us on the children’s book section.
Our Disaster Memorial Museum opened in March 2019, with a part of what had been Koyo High School preserved as it was right after the disaster to convey the impact of the tsunami and the importance of being prepared. The relocated Koyo High School now stands on a safe site, and its students have formed a Kataribe (narrator)-guide Club to carry on the message of the disaster to the future.
In May 2019, our new fish market began operation under top-quality hygiene standards. A new shipbuilding facility, which is a consolidation of the four tsunami-hit shipyards, was completed also around the same time.
A welcome terminal on our Oshima Island opened in March 2020, serving as a tourist information center and local specialty store. The panoramic view from the top of Mt. Kameyama is a must-see of the island. Currently a free shuttle bus service runs on weekends and holidays from the parking lot midway nearly to the top. We’re still debating whether to replace the disaster-stricken chair lift which offered us a fun ride from the port to the top. It’s a hard choice, involving funding and maintenance problems.
The wonderful old Oshima Ferry does not run between the island and mainland anymore. Now it takes us on a leisurely ride, from spring to fall, for a view of the new bridge from below. A plan for night cruises is in the works, to take us under the new bay bridge for dramatic views of the lofty span lit up in the dark above.
Our four beaches were all named among the 100 cleanest beaches in Japan. Kodanohama Beach on Oshima Island reopened in 2012, and Koizumi Beach in 2019. Oisehama Beach was ready in summer 2020 but the opening was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation. With Oya Beach also being ready this summer, people will be able to enjoy all our beautiful beaches once again.
Finally, our city hall is planned for relocation from the present bay area to the Tanakamae area, where the city hospital used to stand. The schedule is not yet confirmed.
So, here we are, friends.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, Kesennuma is not without its problems. We face a serious population decline and a low birth rate. Although we pride ourselves in being Japan’s No. 1 bonito port for 24 years in a row, the longtime smaller-fish catch throughout Japan is a worrisome issue. And just as it is in the rest of the world, COVID-19 is hitting us hard in our way of life and our economy.
We still struggle and continue to pray at the loss of so much that is precious and dear. But at the same time, we’re filled with appreciation and warmth in knowing that we’re connected to all of you and the world.
Thank you for supporting us throughout these momentous ten years. Thank you for giving us the strength to carry on. Thank you for being with us, weeping with us, and rejoicing with us in however small but firm steps we take.
Arigato! We’re Kesennuma, we love you, and we'll never pause or stumble as we stride with hope and confidence towards the light.
