The Miyagi Prefectural Police received a call from a passer-by at around 10:10 on Sunday morning reporting that a person had been found lying on the ground on the coast of Iwanuma City
they found a woman lying face up with her clothes on
She had multiple injuries on her chest and other parts of her body
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The Miyagi Prefectural Police received a call from a passer-by at around 10:10 on Sunday morning reporting that a person had been found lying on the ground on the coast of Iwanuma
a nursery school teacher from Taihaku Ward in Sendai City
Although she was not carrying any identification or other personal belongings
her family had reported her missing earlier this year
saying that she had gone out alone and had not returned home
The condition of the body suggests that she died not long ago
The prefectural police will conduct a judicial autopsy on Gyoji to determine the cause of death
The scene is a beach about 3 kilometers southeast of Sendai Airport
and nearby is the artificial tsunami barrier “Sennen Kibo no Oka.”
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A 35-year-old woman was found dead on a beach in Iwanuma City
was found lying on her back at around 10 a.m
Police said the victim was fully clothed and had multiple injuries on her chest and other parts of her body
but Gyoji's family had filed a missing person report earlier this year
saying that she had "went out alone and never returned.”
Police said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death
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Hope the police get to the bottom off this
Woman found dead on beach in Miyagi Prefecture
"...missing person report earlier this year,"
maybe held back by police until further investigation
Was the body showing signs she'd been dead for a while
 Inflicted by self or others or fall on rocks
the question to ask would be was she murdered or did she die by suicide(jump from cliff)
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Small and medium-size firms in the Tohoku region are increasing their presence in Japan’s growing space sector
Recent launches of space technology startups have created more opportunities to enter the market
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The government plans to boost the space technology market
leading to hopes for the formation of a space industry ecosystem in Tohoku
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Police have launched a murder investigation after receiving a report from a passerby of a person collapsed on a beach in Iwanuma
SENDAI ‐ Police have launched a murder investigation after receiving a report on Sunday from a passerby of a person collapsed on a beach in Iwanuma
a 35-year-old nursery school teacher from Taihaku Ward
The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was blood loss due to stabbing from a knife-like object
Miyagi prefectural police began investigating the case as a murder and abandonment of the body on Monday
setting up investigation headquarters at Iwanuma Police Station
Police sources say the stab wounds penetrated through to her internal organs
It is believed that the perpetrator had strong intent to kill
Gyoji was found lying by the surf wearing her clothes
Apparent blood stains have been identified on the beach
Gyoji worked at a nursery school in Sendai and lived with her elementary school child
her parents had filed a report with the police on Sunday
Friends and family of Berryessa's Turtle Rock bar collected the money pined to the ceiling of the cafe to donate to UCSF and celebrate the 15-year 'cancerversary' of Elijah Leung
Take a ride around Napa on these motorized ADA-compliant scooters made to look like various critters and creatures
Most of Napa’s River Park Shopping Center tenants cater to locals
Now a handful of tenants have left the center
The sheriff's office reported seizing 13 roosters from a Carneros site where it said the birds were altered and trained to fight other male birds
Take a good look at Napa’s Kohl’s building
Developers have asked the city of Napa for permission to demolish the building at 1116 First St
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Ltd.Sumitomo CorporationGreen Earth Institute Co.
Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Toru Nozawa; hereinafter "Nippon Paper")
Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku
President and Chief Executive Officer: Shingo Ueno)
Tokyo; CEO: Tomohito Ihara; hereinafter "GEI") have reached an agreement to establish a joint venture company
which will focus on the production and sale of bioethanol and biochemicals derived from woody biomass
Establishment of the joint venture is scheduled for March 2025
The joint venture will construct a semi-commercial plant at Nippon Paper's Iwanuma Mill in Miyagi Prefecture
Using sustainable forest resources from the Tohoku region
cost-efficient bioethanol production process will be used to produce over 1,000 kL of bioethanol annually starting in 2027
with the full-scale introduction and adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF / *1) in Japan anticipated around 2030
the joint venture is targeting the operation of a commercial plant capable of producing tens of thousands of kiloliters of bioethanol and biochemicals per year
Sumitomo Corporation and GEI announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on "Collaboration for the First Commercial Production of Cellulosic Bioethanol from Woody Biomass in Japan and Its Development into Bio-chemical Products." Based on this agreement
the three companies launched the "Morisora Project" with the slogan "Turning the Power of Forests into the Power of Flight." The project focuses on the promotion and expansion of SAF and is affiliated with the all-Japan initiative "ACT FOR SKY," aiming for widespread SAF production
the project has been selected as a pilot project within the SAF Certification Task Group of the Public-Private Council to Promote the Introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
GEI and Nippon Paper are conducting a grant and commission project under the National Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) titled "Development of the world's best-class low-carbon bioethanol production process using 100% domestic wood biorefinery" as part of the second call for the "Bio-manufacturing Revolution Promotion Project."
The bioethanol produced by the project will be a low-carbon
non-food biomass-based ethanol (E2G) made from wood chips sourced from the Tohoku region
the project will reduce CO2 emissions during transportation
the manufacturing process will utilize carbon-neutral energy derived from lignin
significantly reducing fossil-derived CO2 emissions and contributing to the realization of a sustainable
The bioethanol will be used for SAF as well as gasoline blending
the project will actively explore the effective use of bio-generated CO2 (*2) and fermentation by-products
efforts will be made to enhance forest resources by promoting the distribution of elite tree (*3) seedlings in the Tohoku region
and the sustainable circulation of domestic forest resources
Aiming to become a leading comprehensive biomass company
Nippon Paper will leverage its experience in papermaking and pulp manufacturing technology to quickly establish large-scale production and a robust supply system for woody biomass-derived bioethanol
This will accelerate the company's market entry into the biochemical sector and contribute to building a decarbonized society and working to prevent global warming
Sumitomo Corporation is developing businesses at the foundation of a sustainable energy cycle in society
aiming for carbon neutrality in its business activities by 2050
Sumitomo Corporation plans to ensure the stable procurement of raw materials
promote the widespread adoption of domestically produced SAF and contribute to Japan's energy security
it will apply knowledge gained from this project to the development of SAF manufacturing and sales businesses globally
and by participating in and promoting multiple projects with region-specific raw materials and production methods
work to decarbonize the aviation industry while ensuring a stable supply of low-carbon biofuels
As a company with the mission of "Fostering green technology and walking with the Earth" leveraging biomanufacturing technology
GEI contributes to the realization of a decarbonized society through commercial-scale production of bioethanol from non-food biomass and the social implementation of biomanufacturing in Japan
*1 Sustainable Aviation Fuel: A sustainable fuel that significantly reduces CO2 emissions from production to combustion
*2 Bio-generated CO2: CO2 emitted from biological raw materials
*3 Elite trees: Fast-growing trees with superior characteristics
including growth rates 1.5 times higher than conventional species
pollen production less than half that of typical cedar and cypress trees
Copyright &copy; NIPPON PAPER INDUSTRIES CO.
<a href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y/metrics" data-track="click" data-track-action="view metrics" data-track-label="link" rel="nofollow">Metrics details</a>
Natural disasters are often associated with forced residential relocation
thereby affected people experience a change of food environment that results in the increased body mass index
there are a few studies that examined whether a change in food environment caused risk of obesity after a natural disaster
we leveraged a natural experiment of residential relocation in the aftermath of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Our baseline data came from a nationwide cohort study of older community-dwelling adults conducted 7 months prior to the disaster
Miyagi Prefecture) was directly in the line of the tsunami
Approximately 2.5 years after the disaster
we ascertained the residential addresses and health status of 3,594 survivors aged 65 years or older (82.1% follow-up rate)
Fixed effects multinomial logistic regression showed that shortened distances to food outlets/bars increased the risks of transitioning from BMI in the normal range (18.5–22.9) to obesity (≥25.0) (Odds ratios: 1.46 for supermarkets; 1.43 for bars; 1.44 times for fast food outlets)
Radically changed food access after a natural disaster may raise the risk of obesity among older survivors
the weight gain was measured only after the disaster
the study lacked information on the pre-disaster body weight of survivors
so that it is not possible to draw a strong causal inference
there are a few studies for the association between change in food environment and changes in weight status before vs
Asking about pre-disaster conditions after the disaster is obviously subject to recall bias
</a>Map of inundated area in Iwanuma city, Japan. Reproduced from Hikichi, H. et al. Social capital and cognitive decline in the aftermath of a natural disaster: a natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The Lancet Planetary Health 1 (3), e105-e113, DOI: 10.1016/S2542–5196(17)30041-4 (2017) (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license).
</a>Density of displaced respondents’ addresses and locations of food outlets/bars
We conducted a census of all residents aged 65 years or older in August 2010 (n = 8,576)
The survey inquired about personal characteristics as well as their health status
The response rate to our baseline survey was 59.0% (n = 5,058)
which is comparable to other surveys of community-dwelling residents
Approximately 2.5 years after the disaster (starting in October 2013)
we conducted a follow-up survey of all survivors
The survey gathered information about personal experiences of disaster as well as updating their health status
Informed consent was obtained at the time of survey collection
The detailed flow-chart of the analytic sample is presented in Fig. <a data-track="click" data-track-label="link" data-track-action="figure anchor" href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y#Fig2">2</a>
Of the 4,380 eligible participants from the baseline survey
we managed to re-contact 3,594 individuals (follow-up rate: 82.1%)
Our analytic sample comprises 3,567 individuals
after excluding respondents (n = 27) who returned invalid informed consent forms (e.g.
signed by the next of kin rather than the individual)
We asked respondents about the number of parks or sidewalks suitable for exercise or walking
the number of unwalkable places due to bumps or slopes
and the number of roads or intersections posing a high risk for traffic accidents
The reference category for our multinomial regression was individuals whose baseline BMI was within the normal range (18.5–22.9 kg/m2)
the fixed effects linear regression using BMI as a continuous outcome was also conducted to check the linearity of the association between changes in distances to nearest food outlets and changes in BMI for the overall analytic sample regardless of respondents’ baseline BMI
approximately half of displaced respondents lived in places where there was no any food shop/restaurant within a 1 km radius of their residences
To address potential bias due to missing data
we used multiple imputation by Markov Chain Monte Carlo method assuming missingness at random for explanatory variables and covariates
We created fifty imputed data sets and combined each result of analysis using the Stata command “mi estimate”
All analyses were performed using STATA version 14.0 (STATA Corp LP.
The study was reviewed and approved by the Human Subjects Committee of the Harvard T
the Ethics Committee of the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
the Research Ethics Committee of the Graduate School of Medicine
and the Research Ethics Committee involving Human Participants of the Nihon Fukushi University
Respondents signed on the informed consent form
We followed the STROBE Statement to report our observational study
We also compared the characteristics of our analytic sample to non-respondents at the follow-up survey (Table <a data-track="click" data-track-label="link" data-track-action="supplementary material anchor" href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y#MOESM1">S1</a>)
although our analytic sample was somewhat older than the non-respondents
The proportion of married people in our analytic sample (72.8%) was higher than among non-respondents (64.9%)
More respondents were likely to be employed at the time of the follow-up survey (17.8%) compared with the non-respondents (14.0%)
This could have resulted in some attrition bias
The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 25.0) was sharply increased among displaced respondents (25.0% to 35.1%)
whereas non-displaced respondents reported a slightly decreased prevalence of obesity (26.9% to 26.6%)
Table <a data-track="click" data-track-label="link" data-track-action="table anchor" href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y#Tab1">1</a> also shows that displaced survivors moved closer to most types of food outlets as a result of residential relocation
We calculated the road network distance of each residential address to the nearest bar
83.7% of displaced residents lived more than 2.0 km from the nearest supermarket before the disaster
but the proportion was reduced to 5.8% after relocation
24.9% of non-displaced residents lived &gt;2.0 km from the nearest supermarket (which proportion remained unchanged
The proportion of displaced respondents who reported losing relatives and/or friends in the disaster was approximately two times higher than non-displaced respondents (68.3% and 35.3%
and convenience store and the odds ratios of transitioning to obesity
The results showed that moving 1.0 kilometer closer to a supermarket
or fast food outlet increased the odds of transitioning from BMI in the normal range (18.5–22.9) to obesity (≥25.0) (Odds ratio [OR] 1.46
Among the potential risk factor for obesity
drinking alcohol was also significantly associated with transitioning from normal range to obesity (ORs 1.17 to 1.24 through models with each food outlet/bar)
Loss of loved ones and incident depressive symptoms were not significant for the risk of being obese after the disaster
The results of fixed linear regression using continuous BMI as the outcome similarly indicated significant associations between distances and BMI (Table <a data-track="click" data-track-label="link" data-track-action="table anchor" href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y#Tab3">3</a>)
A decrease in distance to the closest supermarket by 1.0 km resulted in an increment in continuous BMI by 0.08 units (95% CI 0.02
each kilometer decrease in distance to the nearest bar was associated with an increase in continuous BMI (0.08 units
As shown in Table <a data-track="click" data-track-label="link" data-track-action="supplementary material anchor" href="/articles/s41598-018-36906-y#MOESM1">S2</a>
an increase in the exposure to any food outlet/bar from 0 to ≥1 after the disaster was associated with an increment in continuous BMI by 0.70 units (95% CI 0.30
improved food access may have caused an increase in BMI
regardless of the type of food outlet/restaurant
the remaining possible explanation for our findings is that improved access to restaurants
and food retail outlets increased the opportunities for eating out and drinking
as changes in drinking habit are significantly associated with increased risk of becoming obese
A major strength of this study is the availability of information pre-dating the disaster about BMI as well as other health conditions
able to effectively address the problem of recall bias in most studies conducted in post-disaster settings
Our findings may be still residually confounded by unobserved time-varying factors correlated with residential displacement
Our observations are also based on a relatively small sample of displaced survivors (n = 208)
which may not be generalizable to displaced residents elsewhere
our findings point to an important policy implication that planners should take into consideration access to services in making decisions about where to build temporary shelters in the aftermath of a disaster
the local service access was “improved” for the disaster-affected residents in our study; but from the public health point of view
we also documented an unintended consequence
All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials
The JAGES data used in this study will be made available upon request
The authors require the applicant to submit an analysis proposal to be reviewed by an internal JAGES committee to avoid duplication
Confidentiality concerns prevent us from depositing our data in a public repository
Authors requesting access to the Iwanuma data need to contact the principal investigator of the parent cohort (K.K.) and the Iwanuma sub-study principal investigator (I.K.) in writing
Proposals submitted by outside investigators will be discussed during the monthly investigators’ meeting to ensure that there is no overlap with ongoing analyses
the JAGES researchers will request the outside investigator to help financially support our data manager’s time to prepare the data for outside use
Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. EM-DAT the International Disaster Database, <a href="http://www.emdat.be/" data-track="click_references" data-track-action="external reference" data-track-value="external reference" data-track-label="http://www.emdat.be/">http://www.emdat.be/</a> (2017) Accessed April 25
Displacement and older people: The case of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011
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We appreciate the support and cooperation of the Iwanuma Mayor’s office
and the staff of the Department of Health and Welfare of Iwanuma city government
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 AG042463); Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI 15H01972
KAKENHI 22592327 and KAKENHI 24390469); a Health Labour Sciences Research Grant from the Japanese Ministry of Health
H24-Choju-Wakate-009 and H28-Chouju-Ippan-002); and a grant from the Strategic Research Foundation Grant-Aided Project for Private Universities from the Japanese Ministry of Education
Department of International and Community Oral Health
Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry
National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
wrote the first draft of the manuscript; H.H.
contributed to the writing of the manuscript
All authors agreed with manuscript results and conclusions
The authors declare no competing interests
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Thursday to mark the minute that an earthquake began 10 years ago
setting off a tsunami and nuclear crisis that devastated the country’s northeast coast in a disaster that one survivor said he fears people are beginning to forget
The magnitude-9.0 quake that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/japan-accidents-tsunamis-earthquakes-42d4947609becd7f141e9524a8c98937" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/article/japan-accidents-tsunamis-earthquakes-42d4947609becd7f141e9524a8c98937" class="themeColorForLinks">struck on March 11, 2011 </a>— one of the strongest on record — triggered a wall of water that swept far inland
destroying towns and causing meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
The days following the quake were terrifying for many in Japan and farther afield
as hydrogen explosions released radiation into the air and technicians worked furiously to try to cool the plant’s nuclear fuel by pumping in seawater
There were concerns and confusion about the extent of meltdowns
including fears that Tokyo and even the U.S
but panicked shoppers as far away as China and Russia scrambled to stock up on goods they thought would protect them
and nearly half a million people were displaced
The government recognizes another 3,700 — mostly from Fukushima prefecture — who died of causes linked to the disaster
Many in Japan have said that the country’s intense focus on physically rebuilding has at times ignored other healing that needed to be done
The government has said this is the last year it will organize a national commemoration for the disaster
said that he is afraid memories are fading outside the disaster zone and he is committed to preventing that from happening by continuing to recount the lessons from the disaster and telling the stories of his son
Naruhito said “my heart aches” when he thinks of those who have struggled to adapt to drastic changes to their lives because of the triple disaster
In Tokyo’s posh shopping district of Ginza
pedestrians stopped to observe the moment of silence as in previous anniversaries
But a memorial concert at the nearby Hibiya park
was held online this year due to the pandemic and attracted only a small audience
Some anti-nuclear groups also held a protest in Tokyo
many marked the day by raising awareness for disaster prevention
houses and other key infrastructure have mostly been rebuilt in the disaster-hit region at the cost of more than 30 trillion yen ($280 billion)
But no-go zones remain in parts of Fukushima
where shops and houses were abandoned and cordoned off and massive amounts of radioactive waste from decontamination pile up
Swaths of empty land remain in coastal towns farther north in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures
which were already seeing people move away before the disaster and have seen that trend accelerate
families in dark suits gathered on a piece of empty land where the building used to stand
dozens of residents prayed at a cenotaph carrying the names of more than 3,000 victims
another Iwate city where a tsunami as high as 17 meters (56 feet) killed more than 1,700 residents
dozens of police officials wearing orange life vests combed the coastline in search of remains of those who have not been found — an effort that is still repeated in many towns every month
The remains of a woman found in February were returned to her family on Tuesday
No deaths have been confirmed directly from the radiation
but Fukushima has fallen behind in the recovery efforts
with pieces of land totaling 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) in seven towns near the nuclear plant still classified as no-go zones
dismantling the reactors and decontaminating the plant is an unprecedented challenge
with some questioning after 10 years of work whether it can be done
But the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co
said in a statement Thursday that the company is determined to continue the cleanup and help develop jobs and businesses related to that process
Thursday&#x27;s ceremony comes just two weeks before the Olympic torch relay begins from Fukushima for the delayed Tokyo Summer Games in July
Suga has said the Olympics will showcase Japan’s recovery from the disaster and will be proof of human victory over the coronavirus pandemic
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the Japanese people remembered the tragedy of March 11
2011 as the nation looked back on the year since a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the northeastern Tohoku region
A large public ceremony in Tokyo included the emperor and empress of Japan as well as Japan’s prime minister
Elsewhere, I have written of the <a href="http://www.cfr.org/japan/beyond-quake-japans-political-aftershocks/p27602" title="broader political and economic challenges Japan confronts" target="_blank">broader political and economic challenges Japan confronts</a>
challenges that have become vastly more acute as a result of the March 11 disasters
Yet today it is important to note where Japanese attention has focused
Criticism of the slow pace of national government action on behalf of these communities has been widespread over the past year
This week most of the Japanese commentary highlighted the administrative bottlenecks and decision-making paralysis that seemed to keep the central government from pressing forward with reconstruction
The Sunday Debate show on NHK hosted Minister Tatsuo Hirano of the newly created Reconstruction Ministry and Minister Goshi Hosono
now minister of the environment as well as the cabinet lead on nuclear cleanup at Fukushima
who came forward to explain the immense scope of disaster management Japan confronts
both ministers argued the need for greater responsiveness and intervention by the central government in processes that have traditionally rested on the shoulders of local governments
As Japan struggles to understand how to interpret the lessons learned over this past year
it is imperative to remember that March 11 presented one of the world’s most advanced industrial democracies with a crisis of unprecedented complexity
What Japan did right in the wake of that disaster is equally important to remember as what needs to be improved
and this pertains to non-governmental responses as well as national and local government response
it was the third of Japan’s “triple disasters” last March that made it so terribly difficult to manage
Thus Japan’s experience offers much for those outside of Japan to consider and absorb
The security of so many around the globe is deeply dependent on our ability to improve the resilience of our communities in the face of natural disaster. The Japanese people have lived and developed this knowledge for generations, and yet March 11 demonstrated <a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/rebuild.aspx" title="the need to learn more and to become even more resilient" target="_blank">the need to learn more and to become even more resilient</a>
those who survived the tragedy took time to light candles and pray for the more than 19,000 Japanese who lost their lives in the worst natural disaster in their modern history
It will be these survivors who must now build an even more resilient society
and who must now turn their attention to restoring confidence in Japan’s future
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a massive earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Japan in 2011 and triggered devastating tsunami waves
more than a million buildings were damaged or destroyed
and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless
At the time, social epidemiologist&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ichiro-kawachi/">Ichiro Kawachi</a>&nbsp;was in the midst of a national study in Japan aimed at finding the factors that could lead to long-term physical or mental limitations in older age
he realized that health information that had already been collected for the study
laid the groundwork for a natural experiment comparing how elderly people fared both before and after the disaster
Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology at Harvard T.H
2019 talk at the School titled “Disaster Resilience in an Aging Society: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.”
Kawachi and his colleagues expected to find that the most prominent long-term health effects among older people after the disaster would be post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression. But it was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/multitaxo/topic/mental-health/">cognitive decline</a>—when a person has trouble remembering
or making decisions that affect their everyday life
They also found that the most important factor in disaster resilience was not material resources such as medical supplies
things such as&nbsp;interpersonal relationships
The research focused on how elderly residents of the city of Iwanuma
located about 80 kilometers west of the earthquake’s epicenter
Of the roughly 44,000 people living in Iwanuma before the quake
180 lost their lives and 6,700 were evacuated to temporary shelters
Displaced people still living in temporary trailers three years after the disaster struggled with higher levels of depression than those who managed to stay in their homes
The more damage a person’s house sustained
the more likely that person was to experience dementia symptoms
The evidence suggests that living in temporary housing
But people who managed to maintain higher levels of social participation—for example
by meeting with friends or participating in sports clubs or hobby groups—fared better in terms of cognitive abilities than those who were more isolated
“Dementia is a previously under-recognized health problem in the aftermath of major disaster,” Kawachi said
“And social capital is a resilience resource
It’s something not easily visible that can buffer the impact of the disaster experience on cognitive decline.”
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The artworks in “Salients” were produced with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/mcmaster-university-930">McMaster University</a> provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA
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In everyday language when we describe something as “salient” we mean what’s most central
In geography, a “salient” is a prominent feature in a landscape, like an iceberg breaking the surface of the sea. The word “salient” also has affinity with “saline”: both come from <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=saline&amp;ref=searchbar_searchhint">the Latin word for salt</a>
Salients is also the title of an exhibit which is a <a href="https://museum.mcmaster.ca/exhibition/chris-myhr-salients/">retrospective of my artwork</a>
that revolve around our complex interrelationships with water
The catalyst for this trajectory in my studio practice was the Tōhoku earthquake and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-of-2011/Aftermath-of-the-disaster">tsunami that struck the east coast of Japan in 2011</a>
I lived and worked in Tokyo from 1998 to 2006, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2021/03/photos-10-years-great-east-japan-earthquake/618243">and witnessing the images of</a> what’s sometimes known as <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/30/national/science-health/japan-researchers-disaster-lessons/">the 3/11 disaster</a>
as well as the resulting global reverberations
led to a fundamental shift in my world view
It also catalyzed a dedicated move in my research and art production toward issues surrounding water, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01969-y">complex interconnectivity</a> and the ways in which the ocean and its tributaries shape culture
What struck me initially about images of the 3/11 tsunami was that it did not look as I had expected. Its form looked nothing <a href="https://www.katsushikahokusai.org/biography.html">like Katsushika Hokusai’s</a> iconic painting <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434">Under the Wave off Kanagawa</a>
Nor did it look anything like depictions I had <a href="https://thecinemaholic.com/tsunami-movies/">seen in disaster films</a>
The wave swept across the landscape effortlessly
as well as unimaginable things dragged along beneath the surface
These artists attempted to articulate the visceral sense of awe and wonder — slightly tinged with fear — that one experiences when gazing upon the vastness of a starry sky
or a body of water stretching from horizon to horizon
The sublime points toward certain modes of aesthetic, sensory and existential experience <a href="https://www.artforum.com/print/198204/presenting-the-unpresentable-the-sublime-35606">that exceed human thought and understanding</a>
<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262513913/the-sublime">Contemporary theory</a> around the sublime extends the term to include machines and technology
vast networks of global communications and the internet
there is also something sublime about the ways in which the medium of water interconnects all things: it flows across borders and blurs delineations between local/global
I am particularly invested in the work <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780190221911-0016">of contemporary philosophers</a> such as <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/vibrant-matter">Jane Bennett</a> and <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674064225">Timothy Morton</a> whose work challenges us to rethink the place of humans within these boundless networks of coexistence
The projects in Salients feature subject matter collected from four major Canadian water systems: 
<a href="https://www.chrismyhr.com/work#/vessels-between-teeth-20162018/">mariners’ pipes</a> and <a href="https://www.chrismyhr.com/work#/vessels-undertone-20162018/">glass vessels</a> dating back to the 17th century recovered <a href="https://haligonia.ca/treasure-hunter-4266/">from the sea floor</a> off the coast of Nova Scotia; 
evaporated samples of <a href="https://www.chrismyhr.com/work#/suspensions-2018/">toxic blue-green algae</a> taken <a href="https://environment.geog.ubc.ca/algal-blooms-in-the-great-lakes-consequences-governance-and-solutions/">from blooms</a> in Lake Ontario;
<a href="https://www.chrismyhr.com/work#/absolutes-lake-erie-2020-2021/">similar contaminants</a> washing up <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Point-Pelee-National-Park">on the western shoreline of Point Pelee</a> peninsula in Lake Erie
Euro-western thinking tends to delineate between matter and energy. Yet  — like energy — matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Instead, it moves and shifts from one form to another; from one location to another; <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253222404/bodily-natures/">from one body to another</a>
Although Salients images have been rendered through advanced digital imaging technologies, they ruminate not on ephemeral things like data or pixels but rather <a href="https://philosophyofmovementblog.com/2020/08/20/what-is-object-oriented-ontology-what-is-actor-network-theory-what-is-the-philosophy-of-movement">the sheer irreducibility of matter</a>
Our material legacies <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/hyperobjects">will certainly outlive</a> our digital footprints
There is no singular cause to these effects
and there will be no silver bullet solution to these problems
It will take <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520276116/how-forests-think">different frameworks</a> of thinking: <a href="http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/art-in-the-anthropocene/">creative</a>, <a href="https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass">inclusive</a> and <a href="https://www.allwecansave.earth/">interdisciplinary</a> thinking to deal with these issues which — in their vertiginous complexity and sheer magnitude — most certainly border on the sublime
‘Salients’ runs until March 24 at the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton
AP Photo/Koji Ueda A 23 foot-7 inch-high concrete sea wall is seen along the shore at the “Millennium Hope Hills” park in Iwanuma
Four years after a towering tsunami ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast
efforts to fend off future disasters are focusing on a nearly 250 mile chain of cement sea walls
Japan — Four years after a towering tsunami ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast
efforts to fend off future disasters are focusing on a nearly 250-mile chain of cement sea walls
Opponents of the $6.8 billion plan argue that the massive concrete barriers will damage marine ecology and scenery
hinder vital fisheries and actually do little to protect residents who are mostly supposed to relocate to higher ground
Those in favor say the sea walls are a necessary evil
Kazutoshi Musashi chafes at the 41-foot-high concrete barrier blocking his view of the sea
“The reality is that it looks like the wall of a jail,” said Musashi
who lived on the seaside before the tsunami struck Osabe and has moved inland since
Pouring concrete for public works is a staple strategy for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its backers in big business and construction
and local officials tend to go along with such plans
That can be a grave risk along coastlines vulnerable to tsunamis
At least some of the 18,500 people who died or went missing in the 2011 disasters failed to heed warnings to escape in time
a town just south of the region’s biggest city
when the tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake just off the coast inundated half of its area
A 24-foot-high sea wall built years earlier to help stave off erosion of Iwanuma’s beaches slowed the wall of water
But the tsunami still swept up to 3 miles inland
Passengers and staff watched from the upper floors and roof of the airport as the waves carried off cars
smashing most homes in densely populated suburbs not far from the beach
The city repaired the broken sea walls but doesn’t plan to make them any taller
Iguchi was one of the first local officials to back a plan championed by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa to plant mixed forests along the coasts on tall mounds of soil or rubble
to help create a living “green wall” that would persist long after the concrete of the bigger
What we do need is for everyone to evacuate,” Iguchi said
“The safest thing is for people to live on higher ground and for people’s homes and their workplaces to be in separate locations
we don’t need to have a ‘Great Wall,’” he said
While the lack of basic infrastructure can be catastrophic in developing countries
too heavy a reliance on such safeguards can lead communities to be too complacent at times
head of the U.N.’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
“There’s a bit of an overbelief in technology as a solution
even though everything we have learned demonstrates that people’s own insights and instincts are really what makes a difference
and technology in fact makes us a bit more vulnerable,” Wahlstrom said in an interview ahead of a recent conference in Sendai convened to draft a new framework for reducing disaster risks
more than 1,000 people died in the 2011 tsunami
but most school students fled to safety zones immediately after the earthquake
thanks to training by a civil engineering professor
director of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center
who sees this in the attitudes of fellow Dutch people who trust in their low-lying country’s defenses against the sea
“The public impression of safety is so high
they would have no idea what to do in case of a catastrophe,” he said
getting people to agree to forego the sea walls and opt instead for Hosokawa’s “Great Forest Wall” plan is a tough sell
whose job is to win support for the forest project in local communities
because they will create jobs,” said Takahashi
“But even people who really don’t like the idea also feel as if they would be shunned if they don’t go along with those who support the plan,” he said
While the “Great Forest Wall” being planted in some areas would not stave off flooding
it would slow tsunamis and weaken the force of their waves
the vegetation would help prevent buildings and other debris from flowing back out to sea
Such projects would also allow rain water to flow back into the sea
Some voices in unexpected places are urging a rethink of the plan
offered numerous objections to cementing the northeast coast in a speech in New York last September
She said the walls may prevent residents from keeping an eye out for future tsunamis and would be costly to maintain for already dwindling coastal communities
“Please do not proceed even if it’s already decided,” she said
she suggested making the plan more flexible
is building high sea walls to shield the coast line really
a small city near Osabe whose downtown area was wiped out by the tsunami
but also moving many tons of earth to raise the land well above sea level
Local leader Takeshi Konno said no construction project will eliminate the need for coastal residents to protect themselves
“What I want to stress is that no matter what people try to create
so we humans need to find a way to co-exist with nature,” Konno said
the most important thing is to save your life.”
TOKYO (AP) -- Coastal residents in Japan were ordered to flee to higher ground on Tuesday after a strong earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 7.3
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Devastation otherwise stretched hundreds of miles (kilometers) along the coast
where thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers cut off from rescuers and aid
The scale of destruction was not yet known
but there were grim signs that the death toll could soar
One report said four whole trains had disappeared Friday and still not been located
Others said that at least 200 bodies had washed ashore
noting that with so little access to the area
thousands of people in scores of town could not be contacted or accounted for
"Our estimates based on reported cases alone suggest that more than 1,000 people have lost their lives in the disaster," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said
the actual damage could far exceed that number considering the difficulty assessing the full extent of damage."
Japan's worst previous quake was a magnitude 8.3 tremor in Kanto that killed 143,000 people in 1923
according to the United State Geological Survey
A magnitude 7.2 quake in Kobe killed 6,400 people in 1995
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur
Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 countries
A magnitude-8.8 quake that shook central Chile in February 2010 also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people
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Michael Mendillo would have departed Japan for his hometown long before the fateful day of March 11
a prominent astronomy professor at Boston University who was visiting the Tohoku region
found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time
had attended a planetary science symposium at Tohoku University from March 8 through March 11
which straddles Natori and Iwanuma in Miyagi Prefecture
for his return flight to the United States
As Mendillo had some time to kill before his 4 p.m
he worked on a paper about the Martian ionosphere on his laptop at a coffee shop on the third floor of the terminal
the structure’s large ceiling began creaking and sparking
which made it difficult to remain standing
continued for so prolonged a period that Mendillo feared steel pieces might fall on him
“I did not plan on dying today!” Mendillo recalls shouting several times
a large earthquake had hit the northeastern Tohoku region
Mendillo was invited to dinner at the home of a longtime friend
where he heard about a massive temblor expected to occur within 30 years off Miyagi Prefecture
Mendillo also felt his hotel room on the 17th floor shake due to an aftershock
Mendillo decided he could not stay in such a risky place any longer and would depart earlier than initially scheduled
he had never imagined a magnitude 9.0-quake would occur on the day of his departure
As a warning was issued for evacuees only in Japanese at the airport
Mendillo went out of the building and heard a man speak to him
The man said he worked for an airline company and said in English that a 30-foot high tsunami would strike soon
People ran to the third story of the terminal
They did not push or shove one another aside
but simply kept shooting photos while holding their cellphones above their heads
Left within the airport facility surrounded by the tsunami were 1,695 tourists
spoke to a panicky Mendillo in the wake of the earthquake
and the pair were visiting the local Naruko Onsen spa resort through a group tour
Eiko said she had studied as a student in the United States
In the shivering cold at night in the terminal
people wrapped their bodies in bubble cushioning and covered their faces with masks to keep themselves warm while lying everywhere on the floor
Light from mobile phones could be seen at some spots in the darkness
The scene appeared as if out of a sci-fi movie
Though “senbei” crackers and “sasa kamaboko” fish cakes were distributed
and exchanged it with Eiko for something he could consume
Mendillo asked airport staff to allow him to contact the United States on multiple occasions but found the phone line inoperative
Everyone in the building was kind to Mendillo
Seeing the older foreign man and asking “are you OK,” they bowed to Mendillo and offered to assist him
When Mendillo saw some cash seemingly left on a store’s counter in payment for goods there
he thought that was a result of Japanese citizens’ virtue
A young man told Mendillo that the “Japanese army,” or the Self-Defense Forces
would come to the rescue with a helicopter
A bus arranged by the Iwanuma city government arrived there when the floodwaters started receding on the afternoon of March 13
allowing Mendillo and others to leave the airport after some 50 hours
As Mendillo prepared to hitch a ride from Iwanuma Station to Sendai at the couple’s suggestion
help me” in large Japanese characters for him
The professor decided to accompany Yoshi and Eiko halfway with other tour members returning to the Kansai region in western Japan
Spending three days with the Izumis greatly encouraged Mendillo
Arriving at a hotel in the Tendo Onsen resort area in neighboring Yamagata Prefecture
Mendillo finally succeeded in getting through on a call to Boston
the professor realized how fortunate he was in the aftermath of the disaster
He watched a succession of news reports about what was transpiring in the battered Tohoku region
making him aware that the devastation he had seen from the bus leaving the airport affected a far wider coastal area along the Pacific
Mendillo also learned that many people would never be reunited with their loved ones
who were either killed or missing in the disaster
Asked by a Japanese reporter 10 years later whether the experience changed his life
Mendillo told of a lesson he learned from the earthquake and tsunami
“Surviving a natural disaster makes one appreciative of how special life and loved ones are,” Mendillo answered in an email response
Apparently inspired by the phrase “que sera sera (whatever will be
will be)” that Eiko repeated at the airport
“I went on living--hopefully a bit better--with appreciation for all the special people in my life.”
Tanaka-signed baseball turned life around for tsunami victim
Tsunami deaths under the microscope in bid to save lives
Art director: 3/11-themed museum ‘total failure’ in Miyagi  
Population up in Sendai as people abandon Miyagi
JR East estimate: Arakawa river flooding to affect 11 lines in Tokyo
Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions
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A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors
chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
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&quot;The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan,&quot; Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs
said it estimated overall losses to be about $10 billion
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/03/tsunami_waves_hit_hawaii_sweep.html">Kauai, Hawaii, was the first island in that state hit early Friday by the tsunami</a>
which was quickly sweeping through the Hawaiian Island chain
Officials predicted Hawaii would experience waves up to 6 feet
was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit
It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor
Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days
including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday that caused no damage
Hosaka and Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report
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.st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By <a class="byline__authorLink" href="https://www.syracuse.com/staff/syrapnews/posts.html" title="The Associated Press">The Associated Press</a>Kyodo News / AP PhotoEarthquake-triggered tsumanis sweep shores along Iwanuma in northern Japan on Friday March 11
The magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday
unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that swept boats
HONOLULU (AP) -- Blaring tsunami sirens woke residents of Hawaii early Friday as the islands and the U.S
western coast braced for massive waves spawned by an earthquake in Japan
The governor of Hawaii ordered the evacuation of coastal areas and warned residents to take the threat seriously
People waited in long lines stocking up on gas
and officials told residents to stock up on water and fill their cars with gas
The first waves to hit Hawaii could reach 6 feet high and were expected to hit about 3 a.m
The tsunami slammed the eastern coast of Japan
homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control
It&#x27;s traveling at 500 mph - as fast as a jetliner - and likely won&#x27;t change speed until it hits a large area of land
a geophysicist for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Waves are predicted to hit the western coast of the United States between 11 a.m
People near the beach and in low-lying coastal areas of Point Conception in Santa Barbara County were told to move immediately inland to higher ground
While the tsunami is likely to go around smaller islands
the size of Hawaii&#x27;s islands will amplify the waves
which will crash hardest against harbors and inlets
&quot;They&#x27;re going to be coming in with high currents
they can pick up boulders from the sea floor ..
those things become battering rams and so it just amplifies the destruction in a big tsunami,&quot; said Chip McCreery
director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
a tiny island in the North Pacific about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu
&quot;We&#x27;re preparing for the worst and we&#x27;re praying for the best,&quot; said John Cummings III
spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management
The Honolulu International Airport remained open but seven or eight jets bound for Hawaii have turned around
the state Department of Transportation said
All harbors are closed and vessels were being ordered to leave the harbor
The warnings issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cover an area stretching the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska
a dozen small communities along the Aleutian Island chain were on alert
The first waves - about 1 1/2 feet - hit the western portions of the islands with no reported damage
county officials in Oregon were assessing whether to sound sirens; waves in Brookings in southern Oregon could also hit 6 feet
The tsunami was expected to hit the Northern Mariana Islands
Waves about 2.6 feet high hit the beach in Saipan
and sirens still sounded in the empty streets
who works at the front desk of the Hyatt Regency Saipan in the Northern Marianas
said hotel staff has been given the all-clear
Mettao said the hotel has allowed guests to leave from the higher floors where they had been evacuated
officials ordered an evacuation of coastal communities along the country&#x27;s eastern seaboard in expectation of a tsunami following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan
Disaster management officials in Albay province southeast of Manila say they ordered residents to move to designated evacuation sites that are at least 15 feet above sea level
Australia was not in danger because it was protected by island nations to the north
including Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
that would largely absorb any wave activity
a forecaster at the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre
the Australian government agency that monitors the threat
Sirens were sounded about 30 minutes later in Honolulu alerting people in coastal areas to evacuate
About 70 percent of Hawaii&#x27;s 1.4 million population resides in Honolulu
and as many as 100,000 tourists are in the city on any given day
Honolulu&#x27;s Department of Emergency Management has created refuge areas at community centers and schools
and authorities on Kauai island have opened 11 schools to serve as shelters for those who have left tsunami inundation zones
Streets cleared out across Hawaii with usually bustling Waikiki mostly free of any foot traffic
with police ordering every one into the hotels
visitors were evacuated to the third floor and higher
&quot;The situation we&#x27;re confronting right now is unpredictable
We do not know how many waves are going to be coming,&quot; said Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle
causes the most damage and how long the series of waves can last
it is our responsibility to do those things which are absolutely essential to ensure that human life is saved.&quot;
A small 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Big Island just before 5 a.m
but there were no reports of damages and the quakes weren&#x27;t likely related
a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey said
Coast Guard rescue crews were making preparations throughout the Hawaiian Islands to provide post-tsunami support
with cutter and aircraft crews positioning themselves to conduct response and survey missions
Dennis Fujimoto said the mood is calm but concerned on the island of Kauai while people readying for the tsunami
one of the few places that was open to midnight
&quot;You got people walking out of there with wagonloads of water,&quot; he said
was a 1946 tsunami caused by a magnitude of 8.1 earthquake near Unimak Islands
a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile caused a tsunami that killed at least 1,716 people
It also destroyed most of that city&#x27;s downtown
a 1964 tsunami from a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound
<a href="http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/" target="_blank">Latest updates</a>
» <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-hawaii-warning-20110312,0,5340743.story" target="_blank">Hawaiians brace for 6-foot tsunami waves. [Los Angeles Times]</a>
» <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14231159" target="_blank">Tsunami Warning issued for Hawaii, much of Pacific. [Hawaii News Now]</a>
» <a href="http://www.kitv.com/news/27158841/detail.html" target="_blank">Forecasters Predict Up To 7-Foot Waves. [KITV]</a>
» <a href="http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/Hawaii_prepares_for_tsunami_from_massive_Japan_quake.html" target="_blank">First waves hit Kauai: no estimates of height. [Star Advertiser]</a>
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Below, some of them recall memories and scenes that haunt them to this day: 
 Kyodo News via APIn this March 11, 2011 file aerial photo, an earthquake-triggered tsunami sweeps shores along Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
In this March 11, 2011 file aerial photo, an earthquake-triggered tsunami sweeps shores along Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
  Kyodo News via AP In this March 11, 2011 file aerial photo, houses swallowed by the tsunami burn in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
 In this March 11, 2011 file aerial photo, houses swallowed by the tsunami burn in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
 AP Photo/ Itsuo InouyeIn this March 13, 2011 file aerial photo, a ship washed away by tsunami sits amid debris in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area. 
In this March 13, 2011 file aerial photo, a ship washed away by tsunami sits amid debris in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area.
 AP Photo/ Itsuo InouyeIn this March 11, 2011 file photo, hotel employees squat down in horror at the hotel's entrance in Tokyo after a strong earthquake hit Japan. 
In this March 11, 2011 file photo, hotel employees squat down in horror at the hotel's entrance in Tokyo after a strong earthquake hit Japan.
Finally, the shaking subsided — and everyone in the bureau jumped into action. 
— Malcolm Foster, editor, former Tokyo bureau chief 
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</a>AP Photo/ Koji SasaharaIn this March 24, 2011 file photo, cars sit atop damaged buildings in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated the area. 
In this March 24, 2011 file photo, cars sit atop damaged buildings in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated the area.
My strongest memory was a scene I photographed in Onagawa: Cars on top of a three-story apartment building. It looked like their escape had been cut off and that they had been lifted up by the tsunami more than 20 meters (65 feet) above the ground. I was struck by the enormous power and ferociousness of nature. It looked like a scene from hell as I imagined that there were probably many dead bodies in the debris all around me. 
AP Photo / Shuji KajiyamaIn this March 15, 2011 file photo, a convoy of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force vehicles arrives in the tsunami-hit area for recovery operations in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed its eastern coast on March 11. 
In this March 15, 2011 file photo, a convoy of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force vehicles arrives in the tsunami-hit area for recovery operations in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed its eastern coast on March 11.
AP Photo / Vincent YuThis March 26, 2011 file photo shows a dead fish in the devastated city of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area about two weeks ago. 
This March 26, 2011 file photo shows a dead fish in the devastated city of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area about two weeks ago.
— Todd Pitman, reporter, former Bangkok bureau chief 
AP Photo / Itsuo InouyeIn this March 16, 2011 file photo, Reiko Miura, 68, cries as she looks for her nephew at the tsunami-hit area in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  
In this March 16, 2011 file photo, Reiko Miura, 68, cries as she looks for her nephew at the tsunami-hit area in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 
AP Photo / Shizuo KambayashiIn this March 23, 2011 file photo, a resident walks between the rubble caused by the March 11 tsunami at Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan.  
In this March 23, 2011 file photo, a resident walks between the rubble caused by the March 11 tsunami at Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan. 
 AP Photo / Wally SantanaIn this March 27, 2011 file photo, a man walks through the destroyed neighborhood below Weather Hill in Natori, Japan. The hill was originally built to give fishermen a view of sea conditions but now offers an unforgettable look out over the vastness of the mass destruction left from tsunami caused by the March 11 earthquake. 
In this March 27, 2011 file photo, a man walks through the destroyed neighborhood below Weather Hill in Natori, Japan. The hill was originally built to give fishermen a view of sea conditions but now offers an unforgettable look out over the vastness of the mass destruction left from tsunami caused by the March 11 earthquake.
The first two days after the quake struck, I was on a helicopter taking aerial shots. I saw huge columns of black smoke from a flattened town. A large cargo ship was on top of a building. There was no sign of life at all. I did not want to think about thousands of people who were there when the colossal tsunami hit. I just tried to focus on what I needed to do. 
But an encounter I had later with an old lady who was looking for her nephew sticks in my mind. It was a cold day and the sky was covered with dark clouds. The tsunami wiped out much of her city of Otsuchi. As she carefully walked in the mud in her rubber boots, she struggled to recognize her nephew's neighborhood because there were nothing but piles of wreckage and mud. 
"He was a serious and kind person," she said with tears in her eyes. "After he became physically disabled from an injury, he was very kind to everyone." She turned away to return to her makeshift home, an evacuation center. I still remember her despondent, lonely figure treading slowly and carefully through the mud. 
AP Photo / Wally SantanaIn this March 24, 2011 file photo, a young evacuee is screened at a shelter for leaked radiation from the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo. 
In this March 24, 2011 file photo, a young evacuee is screened at a shelter for leaked radiation from the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo.
 AP Photo / Wally SantanaIn this March 13, 2011 file photo, residents evacuated from areas surrounding the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are checked for radiation exposure in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.  
In this March 13, 2011 file photo, residents evacuated from areas surrounding the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are checked for radiation exposure in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
As reports of damage and radiation leakage at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant started to spread, (reporter) Eric Talmadge and I were faced with a very unusual situation — working in a possibly radioactive area. Being kilometers away from any physical tsunami damage, trying to calculate risk and our movements was very hard with this silent, invisible problem surrounding us. The fear of being radiated was very much on our minds. 
Standing in line day after day to be scanned for radiation levels was nerve-racking. The long lines at relief centers of displaced residents — mothers with crying children, fathers and the elderly — all waiting and hoping not to be the one detected by the alarm. Every few dozen people, a loud chirp went off, causing everyone to stop and look to see who it was. 
People with higher radiation levels were taken for further testing. It had the collective effect on everyone that this could happen to any of us. You might have been high above the water levels but straight in the path of the radiation wind. These were victims marked not by broken bones and cut flesh but by anxiety from an invisible threat. 
AP Photo / Mark Baker In this March 22, 2011 file photo, family members pay their final respects during a burial ceremony for the March 11 tsunami victims in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
 In this March 22, 2011 file photo, family members pay their final respects during a burial ceremony for the March 11 tsunami victims in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
AP Photo / Itsuo InouyeIn this March 30, 2011 file photo, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) public relations official Takashi Kurita bows before a news conference at TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo. 
In this March 30, 2011 file photo, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) public relations official Takashi Kurita bows before a news conference at TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo.
AP Photo / Hiro KomaeIn this April 15, 2011 file photo, Japanese police officers in protective suits carry a victim at a tsunami-devastated area in the town of Namie as towers of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are seen in the distance, top right, in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
In this April 15, 2011 file photo, Japanese police officers in protective suits carry a victim at a tsunami-devastated area in the town of Namie as towers of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are seen in the distance, top right, in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
A glimpse of feet pressing against the end of body bags reminded me that it wasn't just art. So too did the frantic bleeps of the dosimeter we'd brought, though we knew short radiation exposure at this level was no real threat. Police in radiation suits only made a half-hearted attempt to tell us to leave. 
A shopkeeper back to collect some valuables spoke to us in a wistful but matter-of-fact way. "I can't come back here," he said before driving away. But he put his trash in the bin before leaving, which told me some day he thought he would. 
— Miles Edelsten, former senior video producer 
AP Photo / Hiro KomaeIn this April 26, 2011 file photo, a construction worker walks on the 15.5 meter (51-foot)-high Fudai flood gate in Fudai town, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
In this April 26, 2011 file photo, a construction worker walks on the 15.5 meter (51-foot)-high Fudai flood gate in Fudai town, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
AP Photo / Hiro KomaeIn this April 26, 2011 file photo, a tennis coach, right, and players of Fudai Junior High School clean their tennis court with the backdrop of the 15.5 meter (51-foot)-high Fudai flood gate in Fudai village, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. 
In this April 26, 2011 file photo, a tennis coach, right, and players of Fudai Junior High School clean their tennis court with the backdrop of the 15.5 meter (51-foot)-high Fudai flood gate in Fudai village, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
About two months after the tsunami, I stumbled upon a coastal village in the disaster zone that should have been obliterated, as communities to its north and south were. But there it was, intact. I came to call Fudai in Iwate prefecture "the town that lived." 
It owed its survival to a former 10-term mayor whose memories of a 1933 tsunami fueled a lifelong obsession to protect his town from the sea. In 1967, Fudai erected a 15.5-meter-high (51-foot-high) seawall to shield neighborhoods behind its fishing port. Mayor Kotaku Wamura insisted on an equally tall floodgate for a nearby cove where most of the homes were. He faced opposition and ridicule but never relented. 
When the 2011 tsunami struck 14 years after Wamura died, the walls and floodgates, the tallest such barriers in the region, kept the town virtually unscathed. The only person lost had been out in his boat. 
When I visited Fudai, villagers grateful to Wamura told me he was ultimately teaching them a larger lesson — the importance of conviction and never giving up on what you know is right. 
Japan&#x27;s National Police says the current earthquake tally is 93 dead, 539 injures and 351 missing.  <a href="http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11/live-blog-japan-earthquake/?hpt=T1" target="_blank">Kyodo</a> also reports as many as 70,000 people were being evacuated to shelters in the Sendai area of Japan
» <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/video_gallery_japan_earthquake.html" target="_blank">See our video gallery of the Japan earthquake</a>
has triggered tsunami waves as big as 23-feet high through the Pacific Ocean
Hawaii was hit by the tsunami and now the United States west coast braces for possible waves as well
FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said tsunami warnings and watches have been issued for the U.S
There are 20 countries currently under tsunami warnings, and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/tsunami.warning/index.html?hpt=T1" target="_blank">CNN</a> reports there are 50 countries altogether under tsunami watch
President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/obama-offers-to-assist-earthquake-stricken-japan/87c8e21c48124c6d8f18210f3d206040" target="_blank">voiced condolences</a> to Japan Friday for the people who perished in the massive earthquake
saying the United States &quot;stands ready to help&quot; in any way it can
The official website for the Bakuten!! (<a href="/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=23955">Backflip!!</a>) original television <a href="/news/2020-11-04/noitamina-reveals-bakuten-rhythmic-gymnastics-anime-for-april-2021/.165977">anime</a> posted the <a href="/news/2021-06-24/backflip-rhythmic-gymnastics-anime-gets-film/.174394">upcoming</a> film's spring 2022 opening date and a new teaser visual by original character designer <a href="/encyclopedia/people.php?id=110351">Robico</a> on Saturday:
The anime held an event (streamed to people who bought the first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume)  on Saturday
and the event revealed the film's date and visual above
The event also unveiled Robico's package illustration for the third Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume, which will include a serial code for a streaming event with cast members <a href="/encyclopedia/people.php?id=121607">Shimba Tsuchiya</a> and <a href="/encyclopedia/people.php?id=114052">Kaito Ishikawa</a>
Starting in late October, the anime is collaborating with <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=22117">Iwanuma City</a> as part of the "Anime Hometown Tax" initiative to support local areas
People who donate to the initiative with receive food seen in the anime and original goods
In addition, the "One Gymnastics Festa 201 feat. Anime Backflip!!" with Japan's top-tier high school athletes, professional performers, and college athletes will be held at <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=22106">Miyagi Prefecture</a>'s Shiroishi City Culture and Physical Education Center on November 3
The event's newly recorded public announcements will feature the voices of the characters from the anime's "Ao High" and "Shiro High" teams
The television anime premiered on <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=30">Fuji TV</a>'s <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=5732">Noitamina</a> programming block on April 8, and the 12th and final epsiode aired in June. <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=7606">Crunchyroll</a> <a href="/news/2021-04-06/crunchyroll-to-stream-86-backflip-cestvs-more/.171513">streamed</a> the anime as it aired in Japan
The anime is set in Miyagi Prefecture's Iwanuma City
and centers on a high school rhythmic gymnastics team
who is fascinated by gymnastics after seeing it in his third year of middle school
and joins the rhythmic gymnastics team of his new high school Sōshūkan High School
nicknamed "Ao High." He makes a friend with his schoolmate Ryōya Misato
who earned fame as a gymnast during middle school
<a href="/encyclopedia/people.php?id=281064">Kei Sakuraba</a> is drawing a manga adaptation, which premiered in <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=88">Kodansha</a>'s <a href="/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=19620">Dessert</a> magazine on January 22
The anime is one of three anime projects part of the larger "Zutto Ōen <a href="/encyclopedia/company.php?id=26678">Project</a> 2011 + 10..." initiative aimed at promoting Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima (the other two anime projects are <a href="/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=24356">Misaki no Mayoiga</a> and <a href="/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=23972">Hula Fulla Dance</a>)
The "Zutto Ōen Project 2011 + 10..." is in remembrance of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami 10 years ago
Sources: Backflip!! anime film's <a href="https://bakuten-movie.com" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://natalie.mu/comic/news/448652" target="_blank">Comic Natalie</a>
couldn't hear the emergency sirens that followed the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 11
Nor could she hear the public announcement urging people to evacuate to higher ground as a massive tsunami approached the coast of northeastern Japan's Tohoku region.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); });
She owes her life to a neighbor who came to alert her
<a href="//mainichi.jp/articles/20210924/ddm/041/040/028000c">Japanese version</a>
The Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Recovery Plan was formulated to set a path for recovery over the following 10 years for the prefecture
which sustained catastrophic damage when the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck
The plan is a proposal-driven blueprint for recovery
as the prefecture felt it necessary to design new systems and incorporate new methods to fully recover from the disaster
The horizon set to achieve full recovery in the region is approximately 10 years
The plan is strategically divided into three phases—Restoration
the focus will be on supporting victims by restoring the infrastructure needed for daily life and public facilities
further support will be provided to those affected by the disaster whose lives and businesses have been disrupted
The development phase is for expanding infrastructure to revitalize the prefecture
The citizens of the prefecture will lead the recovery
engaging hand in hand with various organizations and forging bonds essential to a full recovery
The government will establish a system that provides full support to the recovery activities initiated by various groups in the private sector
All parts of the prefecture are covered by the plan
The damaged coastal cities and towns will take priority
Progress made on projects will be evaluated using the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle method and the results will inform specific recovery measures
The plan will be revised as necessary to respond to changes in social conditions and other factors
Because it is necessary to carry out far-reaching reconstruction that does not stop at merely restoration but extends to progressive regional development
the following 10 items have been identified as keys to recovery that involve initiatives proposed to and requested of the national government which the prefecture will work to achieve in collaboration with its citizens and municipalities
build multiple barriers to protect against tsunamis
create evacuation centers and safe evacuation routes
improve roads to serve as lifesaving routes
Collectively reorganize fishing port bases and create a marine products industry area
form a competitive and attractive marine products industry
Develop an innovative model for agriculture and farming communities
support privately funded agricultural businesses
prioritize rebuilding the lumber industry and a vibrant forestry sector
Create an economic climate for a rapid resumption of commerce
improve the logistics infrastructure to support business continuity
further promote automobile-related and other industries and attract enterprises
gather and promote emerging industries for the future
create a global industrial area and develop global business
create employment opportunities by promoting new industries
build an extensive transportation network that assures convenience and safety for tourists
extend the Sendai-Miyagi Destination Campaign through public-private collaboration
attract educational travel for disaster research and study
Establish a well-located network of healthcare and welfare institutions and coordinate their functions
promote medical collaboration through ICT (information and communications technologies)
enhance the care system for disaster victims
Promote eco-friendly community development
develop advanced areas that incorporate smart grids and cogeneration
upgrade all post-disaster public housing with solar power systems
Construct a disaster-resistant public utility and logistics system
develop backup crisis management systems and procedures for the Tohoku region
build the Great East Japan Earthquake Memorial Park (tentative name)
Enhance mental healthcare and disaster prevention education
promote education that encourages motivation
develop human resources in industries that will assist in Miyagi’s recovery efforts
promote the participation of younger people in recovery planning
establish Special Zones for Reconstruction in East Japan
collaborate beyond the boundaries of affected prefectures and municipalities
collaborate with academic and research institutions and think tanks that will lead recovery and regional revitalization efforts
and Miyagi Prefecture Regional Revitalization General Strategy—which were set to expire in fiscal 2020
were reformulated to integrate the principles into a new plan going forward
The New Vision for the Future of Miyagi was created to share with the people of Miyagi a vision of the future and goals for the prefecture in light of anticipated social changes
and to clarify what measures will best serve to achieve them
The vision offers a basic directional guide for the prefectural government to pursue its plans and initiatives working toward medium-to-long-term goals
The vision is a 10-year vision starting in FY2021
The New Vision for the Future of Miyagi establishes the following four fields of action to provide vigilant support for the completion of rebuilding in affected areas in response to each issue
Great East Japan Earthquake occurs and Miyagi Prefectural Disaster Task Force is established (14:46)	Request to the Self-Defense Forces for disaster relief operations (15:02)	Prefectural Police Headquarters requests the National Police Agency to dispatch wide-area emergency rescue teams
(15:04)	First meeting of the Disaster Task Force held (15:30)	Request made to the national government for the dispatch of emergency firefighting rescue teams (15:36)	Disaster Relief Act is invoked for all municipalities in the prefecture (17:00)
Prefectural Disaster Task Force Headquarters set up on the 5th floor of the prefectural building (photo taken at 15:24)
First meeting of the Prefectural Disaster Task Force (photo taken at 15:30)
DMAT teams arrive and begin medical activities (work until March 16
Number of people displaced by the Great East Japan Earthquake in the prefecture peaks at 320,885	
Number of evacuation centers set up in the prefecture peaks at 1,323 evacuation centers
Council on mental health care measures set up (lasts through July 2011)	
Governor declares reassurance that stable fuel supply is on track
Tohoku Expressway reopens to non-essential traffic
Prefectural government formulates Basic Policy for Disaster Waste Disposal5,000-kiloliter oil tanker arrives at Sendai Shiogama Port
M7.1 aftershock occurs offshore from Miyagi Prefecture
Draft of the Miyagi Prefecture Basic Disaster Reconstruction Policy is released
First domestic non-scheduled flights after the earthquake go into operation at Sendai Airport
First post-disaster catch sold at the Shiogama Fish Market1st Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake
Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Reconstruction Headquarters established
Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress visit disaster areas (Minamisanriku Town and Sendai City)
Occupancy begins in first prefab emergency housing built in the prefecture (Shiogama City)
Disaster Reconstruction Kick-off Day announcedTohoku Shinkansen Line fully restored
First Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Reconstruction Council meeting is held
Emergency firefighting assistance teams complete their activities in Miyagi Prefecture
Basic Act on Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake enacted
Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake issues “Toward Reconstruction” proposal
Regular domestic flights resumed at Sendai Airport; non-scheduled international flights also started
Basic Policy on Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake adopted by the national government
Self-Defense Forces reconstruction assistance activities are completed
Construction completed on the prefecture’s first temporary commercial facilities—Shiogama Minato Fukko (Recovery) Market
Miyagi Citizens’ Council is established in response to the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Sendai Airport terminal building is completely restored and regular international flights resume
Sendai Airport Access Line (railway) resumes full operation
Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Recovery Plan is adopted
Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Recovery Victim Assistance Council is established as part of the Miyagi Prefectural Disaster Task ForceMiyagi Disaster Mental Health Care Center is set up
The Act for Establishment of the Reconstruction Agency is enacted into law
All essential infrastructure within the prefecture is restored (except in areas completely destroyed by the tsunami)
All temporary emergency housing units are completed (22,095 prefabricated units in 406 housing complexes)
All evacuation centers in the prefecture close
Japanese government establishes the Reconstruction Agency; the Miyagi Reconstruction Bureau is established in Sendai City with branch offices in Ishinomaki City and Kesennuma City
A plan is formulated to deal with the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident
Miyagi Prefectural Disaster Task Force is disbanded
The position of Disaster Mitigation Officer is created at all prefectural public schools
plus Head Teacher in Charge of Disaster Mitigation at key elementary schools for the first time in Japan
Guidelines for Miyagi Prefecture Public Emergency Housing are adopted
Miyagi approves the Land Readjustment Project for the Recovery of the Shinhebita area in the stricken urban area of Ishinomaki City
A groundbreaking ceremony is held for the prefecture’s first collective relocation project at Tamaura-nishi area in Iwanuma City
The JR Kesennuma Line begins operation using a bus rapid transit (BRT) system connecting Kesennuma City
The Miyagi Prefectural Disaster Victim Recovery Support Council is established
All 26 waste incinerators in the Koizumi district of Kesennuma are now operational under waste disposal contracts through Miyagi Prefecture
The Relocation Community Development Project is announced
Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Recovery Fund grants for repairing tsunami damage to housing are delivered to 15 coastal municipalities
The prefecture’s first public emergency housing in Sendai City
and Yamamoto Town begin accepting residents; a prefectural ordinance is passed to establish Miyagi Memorial Day
The Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Waste Disposal Plan (final version) is announced
Rikuchu-Kaigan National Park is redesignated as Sanriku Fukko National Park
The Gamo-Zatsukofukuro Disaster Prevention Collective Relocation Area project is completed in Sendai City
A large-scale photovoltaic solar power (megasolar) farm is completed in Nobiru
A new fishery opens in the special fishery reconstruction zone in Ishinomaki City
Greenhouse complexes for strawberry cultivation are completed and handed over to farm producers in Watari Town
Sant Juan Bautista Museum reopens in Ishinomaki City
The prefecture’s first groundbreaking ceremony is held in Iwanuma City for a reconstruction and land consolidation program for rural communities involved in agriculture
The incineration of disaster waste ends within the prefecture
The disposal of disaster waste ends outside the prefecture
A revision to the Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures Promotion Ordinance is enacted
The Japanese government finalizes a plan for the privatization of Sendai Airport
All closure orders are lifted on prefectural roads in Ishinomaki City and Onagawa Town
Grand opening of the Shark Museum at “Umi no Ichi” in Kesennuma City
Dismantling and removal of disaster waste disposal facilities is completed; the land is restored to its original state and returned to the landowners
Watari Onsen Torinoumi reopens for spa day-trippers in Watari; Kizuna Port Watari opens as a market complex in Watari Town
Yamamoto Town holds an opening ceremony for new Joban Expressway sections between Yamamoto and Soma Interchanges and between Namie and Minamisoma Interchanges
A reopening ceremony is held in Higashi-Matsushima City for the section of railway linking Rikuzen-Otsuka and Rikuzen-Ono Stations on the JR Senseki Line
A report is submitted by the Miyagi Prefecture Expert Committee on Earthquake Disaster Ruins
The UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and a related public forum event are held in Sendai City
JR's Ishinomaki Line resumes full service; Onagawa Recovery Town reopening campaign for spring 2015 is held in Onagawa Town
goes into operation; Senseki Tohoku Line opens
The Great East Japan Earthquake Archive Miyagi
a digital collection of materials related to the disaster
Tamaura-nishi officially opens in Iwanuma City as a relocation community for six affected coastal districts
Ishinomaki Fish Market resumes full-scale operation in Ishinomaki City
Ishinomaki Onagawa Interchange opens on the Sanriku Expressway in Ishinomaki City The Mitazonokita district opens as a new relocation community in Natori City
A community opening ceremony is held for the land recovery of five downtown districts in affected areas of Ishinomaki City
The new Sendai Subway Tozai Line opens in Sendai City
The Minamisanriku Hospital and Comprehensive Care Center opens in Minamisanriku Town
The Onagawa Station shopping promenade opens
Onagawa Recovery Town reopening campaign for winter 2015 is held in Onagawa Town
The Sendai 3.11 Memorial Community Center opens in Sendai City
Ishinomakiayumino Station on the Senseki Line opens in Ishinomaki City
The four-lane Sen-en Route and the Tagajo Interchange open on the Sanriku Expressway
The first hydrogen refueling station in the Tohoku region is planned for Sendai City
and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are introduced for prefectural government vehicles
A Disaster Science Department is established at Tagajo High School in Tagajo City
Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University opens in Sendai City along with its new department of medicine
Faculty of Medicine established at Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University (Sendai City)* Photo courtesy of Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens between the Tome-Towa and Mitakido Interchanges in Tome City
The Millennium Hope Hills Exchange Center opens in Iwanuma City
The Minamisanriku Local Wholesale Market opens in Minamisanriku Town
Sendai Airport is privatized—a first for a national government-owned airport
The Ishinomaki Municipal Hospital opens in Ishinomaki City
The Aoi district opens as a new relocation community in Higashi-Matsushima City
celebrated with Aomori Nebuta festival floats
The Higashi-Matsushima City 3.11 Disaster Recovery Memorial Museum in Higashi-Matsushima City
The Tsubamenomori district and Shinsakamoto Station neighborhood district in Yamamoto Town open as new relocation communities
Miyagi Prefecture starts helicopter ambulance services
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens between Mitakido and Shizugawa Interchanges in Tome City and Minamisanriku Town
A section of the JR Joban Line between Soma and Hamayoshida reopens in Watari Town
A new school building is completed in Higashi-Matsushima City for Miyanomori Elementary School
created by merging the disaster-affected Nobiru and Miyato Elementary Schools
Minamisanriku SANSAN Shopping Village opens on a permanent site in Minamisanriku Town
The Shin-Kadonowaki district opens as a new relocation community in Ishinomaki City
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens between Shizugawa and Minamisanriku-kaigan Interchanges in Minamisanriku Town
Tohoku's first commercial hydrogen refueling station opens in Sendai City
a reconstructed shopping district in Minamisanriku Town
Matsushima Town Ishidasawa Disaster Prevention Center is completed
Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake: Sendai Arahama Elementary School opens to the public in Sendai City
The Onagawa Fish Market is fully restored in Onagawa Town
The Ishinomaki Genki Ichiba Market tourist facility opens in Ishinomaki City
Reconstruction of coastal levees and roads is completed in the Shobuta district and the seaside resort opens fully in Shichigahama Town
Sun Ole Sodehama Beach in Minamisanriku Town opens for the first time in seven years
takes place in Ishinomaki City and other locations (until Sept
2017: Reborn Art Festival 2017 held (Ishinomaki City and other locations) * Photo: “White Deer” (Oshika) sculpture by artist Kohei Nawa
A new school building is completed for Ishinomaki Ogatsu Elementary and Junior High School in Ishinomaki City
Minamisanriku Town Hall reopens in a new building in Minamisanriku Town
The Yamamoto Town Disaster Prevention Base/Yamashita Regional Exchange Center completed
The Tohoku-Miyagi Revive Marathon 2017 takes place in disaster-affected coastal areas of Iwanuma City
The Nobirugaoka district opens in Higashi-Matsushima City as a new relocation community
The Shiogama Fish Market is fully restored in Shiogama City
Kesennuma City Hospital is relocated to new premises in Kesennuma City A tree-planting festival takes place in the Miyauchi district of Tagajo City
Higashi-Matsushima City 3.11 Disaster Recovery Memorial Park is completed in Higashi-Matsushima City
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens between Minamisanriku-kaigan and Utatsu Interchanges in Minamisanriku Town
A new school building is completed at Naruse Mirai Junior High School in Higashi-Matsushima City
The Tamaura Kibo Line elevated road opens fully in Iwanuma City
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens between Oya-kaigan and Kesennuma-chuo Interchanges in Kesennuma City
Kesennuma City Library and Kesennuma Children’s Center open in Kesennuma City
Arahama Fishing Port reopens in Watari after renovation in Watari Town
The opening ceremony of Yuriage Elementary and Junior High School is held in Natori City
which adopts a new integrated education system
Torinoumi Park in Watari Town is completed and an opening ceremony is held
A completion ceremony takes place for the disaster victims’ public housing project in Onagawa Town
The Ishinomaki City Disaster Prevention Center is completed and an opening ceremony is held in Ishinomaki City
Kaigan Park reopens in the Ido district of Sendai City
The Shiogama City Tsunami Disaster Prevention Center opens in Shiogama City
Watanoha Beach in Ishinomaki opens for the first time since the disaster in Ishinomaki City
An opening ceremony is held for a new building completed at Kesennuma Koyo High School in Kesennuma City
Kawamachi Community Center is completed in Ishinomaki City
An opening ceremony is held for the newly completed Onagawa Town Hall in Onagawa Town
The Kesennuma–Karakuwa Course opens on the Miyagi Olle Trail in Kesennuma City
The Oku–Matsushima Course opens on the Miyagi Olle Trail in Higashi-Matsushima City
Shizugawa Bay in Minamisanriku Town is designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention
Yamamoto Town Farmer’s and Fisherman’s Market “Yamamoto Yume Ichigo-no-Sato” opens in Yamamoto Town 
Two sections of the Sanriku Expressway open—between the Utatsu and Koizumi-kaigan Interchanges in Minamisanriku Town
Kesennuma City and between the Motoyoshi-tsuya and Oya-kaigan Interchanges in Kesennuma City
Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake—Kesennuma City Memorial Museum opens in Kesennuma City
Construction of all public housing for disaster survivors within the prefecture is completed
An opening ceremony is held for the newly completed Kesennuma Oshima Ohashi Bridge in Kesennuma City
Kawamachi Terrace Yuriage opens in Natori City
An opening ceremony is held for the newly completed Yamamoto Town Hall
The Yuriage district opens in Natori City as a new relocation communityNatori City Earthquake Memorial Park opens
The Yuriage district opens in Natori City as a new relocation community
Koizumi Beach in Kesennuma City opens for the first time in 9 years 
a commercial facility in Kesennuma Oshima Island opens in Kesennuma City
Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake: Residential Foundations in Arahama opens to the public in Sendai City
The Osaki–Naruko Onsen Course opens on the Miyagi Olle Trail in Osaki City
The Eastern Reconstruction Road opens in Sendai City
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens in Kesennuma City between the Kesennuma-chuo and Kesennuma-ko Interchanges
A completion ceremony is held for the Former Onagawa Police Box Disaster Memorial Ruins in Onagawa Town
The Tome Course on the Miyagi Olle Trail opens in Tome City
The Natori City Earthquake Reconstruction Museum opens in Natori City
Miyagi Prefecture’s new automatic sluice and flood gate system goes into operation
The Utsumi-bashi Bridge along Japan National Route 398 opens in Ishinomaki City
Yamamoto Town Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake: Nakahama Elementary School open to the public in Yamamoto Town
Grand opening of the Natori Cycle Sports Center in Natori City
Minamisanriku Earthquake Disaster Memorial Park opens fully in Minamisanriku Town
Peach Aviation opens the first low-cost air route between Sendai and Naha
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens in Kesennuma City between the Koizumikaigan and Motoyoshi-tsuya Interchanges
The New Vision for the Future of Miyagi is formulated
A section of the Sanriku Expressway opens in Kesennuma City between the Kesennuma-ko and Karakuwa-hanto Interchanges; Kesennuma Bay Crossing Bridge opens
Kesennuma City Earthquake Disaster Memorial Park opens in Kesennuma City
JR Fruits Park Sendai Arahama opens in Sendai City
Ishinomaki Minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park opens in Ishinomaki City The Oya kaigan Michi-no-Eki Roadstation opens in Kesennuma City
Onagawa Michi-no-Eki Roadstation opens in Onagawa Town
A new school building is completed at Naruse-Oka Elementary School in Higashi-Matsushima City
Miyagi 3.11 Tsunami Disaster Memorial Museum opens in Ishinomaki City
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay passes through various places in the prefecture
Ibex Airlines inaugurates a route between Sendai and Ehime
Ishinomaki City Okawa Elementary School Ruins open to the public in Ishinomaki City
The 40th National Convention for the Development of an Abundantly Productive Sea—Miyagi
the Food Kingdom—takes place in Ishinomaki City
An opening ceremony is held for the Ishinomaki City Kadonowaki Elementary School Ruins in Ishinomaki City
Onagawa Stadium Park opens in Onagawa Town
Oisehama Beach in Kesennuma City opens for the first time in 12 years
Nobiru Beach in Higashi-Matsushima City opens for the first time in 12 years
The Minamisanriku 311 Memorial opens in Minamisanriku Town
A ceremony is held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Miyagi Prefecture
Top Wisteria Locations and Events in Japan
carry the torch of springtime joy once cherry blossom season is over in Japan
These delicate flowers are also deeply woven into the cultural fabric
representing grace and the fleeting nature of life in a similar way sakura does
wisterias draw visitors from around the world to Japan&rsquo;s ancient temples
The sight of wisteria tunnels and trellises under the sun and
accompanied by evening illumination events
Their significance is celebrated annually in festivals that showcase the floral spectacle and also reflect Japan&rsquo;s deep appreciation for nature&rsquo;s transient beauty
Ashikaga Flower Park (&#12354;&#12375;&#12363;&#12364;&#12501;&#12521;&#12527;&#12540;&#12497;&#12540;&#12463;) is
globally recognized for its breathtaking wisteria displays
You can also wander through enchanting tunnels of white and yellow wisteria
feeling immersed in a world of vibrant hues
But if you think that&rsquo;s impressive enough
The park transforms into a magical landscape
earning it recognition as Japan&rsquo;s most beautiful night view
a visit in the early morning is recommended to avoid the crowds
&#9661;More details about Ashikaga Flower Park!&#9661;
&#9654;<a href="https://jw-webmagazine.com/dont-miss-the-ashikaga-wisteria-festival-2017-ec27a16c7980/" target="_self">Ashikaga Flower Park Great Wisteria Festival</a>
Near Tokyo Skytree lies Kameido Tenjin Shrine (&#20096;&#25144;&#22825;&#31070;&#31038;)
a historical sanctuary adorned with over 100 wisteria vines that has become one of the city&rsquo;s most popular hotspots during its wisteria matsuri
This Edo-period festival captivates visitors with its scenic pond
and the elegant drapery of wisteria blooms
spanning three weeks from mid-April to early May
not only showcases the floral beauty but also hosts special events and food stalls
The evening illumination of wisteria under the night sky adds a mystical charm
making it a must-visit for residents and visitors alike
&#9661;More details about Kameido Tenjin!&#9661;
&#9654;<a href="https://jw-webmagazine.com/kameido-tenjin-shrine-wisteria-festival-f208ab09a2d7/" target="_self">Kameido Tenjin Shrine Wisteria Festival</a>
Kawachi Wisteria Garden (&#27827;&#20869;&#34276;&#22290;) in Kitakyushu
is a private haven featuring over 20 varieties of wisteria in a sprawling 10,000 square meter area
are draped in a mesmerizing array of wisteria colors
This hidden gem has gained international fame
attracting visitors worldwide to witness the peak bloom in spring
an advanced online ticket purchase is required
ensuring a seamless experience amidst the enchanting floral tunnels.&nbsp;
&#9661;More details about Kawachi Wisteria Garden&#9661;
&#9654;<a href="https://jw-webmagazine.com/the-most-beautiful-tunnel-in-the-world-kawachi-wisteria-garden-4b833c1989bc/" target="_self">Kawachi Wisteria Garden: The Most Beautiful Tunnel in the World</a>
Tennogawa Park (&#22825;&#29579;&#24029;&#20844;&#22290;) in Tsushima City
once known as the &ldquo;Village of Wisteria Waves,&rdquo; continues to enchant visitors with its wisteria blooms during the &ldquo;Owari Tsushima Wisteria Festival,&rdquo; held from late April to early May
The park boasts 114 wisteria plants across 12 varieties
sprawling over an area of approximately 5,034 square meters
which not only captivates during the day but also comes alive at night with stunning illuminations
The reflection of the trellis on the water&rsquo;s surface adds an extra layer of charm to the already picturesque scene
established by the imperial order of Emperor Go-Daigo
Mandaraji Park (&#26364;&#38464;&#32645;&#23546;&#20844;&#22290;) is a beloved spot in Konan City
The park is home to about 60 wisteria plants
featuring a variety of early and late bloomers in shades of purple and white
The best time to visit is from late April to early May
coinciding with the peak bloom of approximately 200 peony plants
During the Konan Wisteria Festival (&#27743;&#21335;&#34276;&#12414;&#12388;&#12426;)
the park transforms with enchanting light-ups and various events
with the backdrop of the temple architecture.&nbsp;
is a historical gem that was transformed from a regal villa into a Buddhist temple by Regent Fujiwara Yorimichi in 1502
the temple grounds come alive with the ethereal beauty of wisteria flowers
The temple boasts nearly 20,000 clusters of wisteria
creating a breathtaking vista that has been well-known since the Heian period
against the backdrop of these delicate blooms
creates one of the most iconic scenes in this location during Spring.&nbsp;
Byakugouji Temple (&#30333;&#27627;&#23546;)
is a sanctuary enveloped in the tranquility of wisteria blooms
Known for its &ldquo;Kyushaku Fuji&rdquo; or long wisteria racemes
the temple&rsquo;s mystical experience is enhanced by the scenery of a purple canopy
With two wisteria trellises measuring 120m and 70m
you can feel completely immersed in the beauty of these flowers
complete with a drum bridge and a stone garden
The best time for a quiet visit is during the morning
The Yame-Kurogi Ofuji Festival (&#20843;&#22899;&#40658;&#26408;&#22823;&#34276;&#12414;&#12388;&#12426;) is held at Kurogi Susanoo Shrine in Yame City
the festival honors the blooming Kurogi no Ofuji
a beloved giant wisteria tree designated as a natural monument in 1928
earning it the reputation as the wisteria of longevity
The festival&rsquo;s highlight is the expansive wisteria trellises
with some flower clusters reaching over 1 meter in length
The event also features stalls and sake brewery tours as complementing activities
Kanahebisui Shrine (&#37329;&#34503;&#27700;&#31070;&#31038;) in Iwanuma City
revered for its business and financial prosperity blessings
is home to the &ldquo;Kiryu no Fuji&rdquo; or Nine Dragons Wisteria
especially in mid-May when it reaches full bloom
showcases an impressive display of cascading flowers that create the illusion of a floral shower
which also houses one of the largest Benzaiten (goddess of wisdom
turns into a lively place from May 3rd to 15th
offering seasonal special seals and a variety of events during the annual flower festival
Fuji Blooming Hill (&#12405;&#12376;&#12398;&#21682;&#12367;&#19992;) in Fujioka City
is a spectacular park dedicated to the city&rsquo;s official flower
The park features an impressive 350 m-long wisteria trellis
creating a tunnel-like experience that immerses visitors in the gentle fragrance and cascading blooms of the wisteria
The &ldquo;Fujioka Fuji Festival&rdquo; held from late April to mid-May
providing a perfect backdrop for various events
and the enchanting nighttime illumination of the wisteria trellis
Wisterias may not be as famous as cherry blossoms abroad
but their cultural relevance as a cherished symbol of spring in Japan is undeniable
If you haven&rsquo;t fallen under their spell yet
it&rsquo;s never too late to have (yet another) excuse to visit these places
You can enjoy a wide variety of flowers in Japan throughout the year
Check out our ultimate guide to flowers in Japan and find the best seasonal blooms
<a href="https://jw-webmagazine.com/flowers-in-japan/" target="_self">&#9654; Flowers in Japan</a>
I was born in Caracas and lived for 14 years in Barcelona before moving to Tokyo
Currently working towards my goal of visiting every prefecture in Japan
I hope to share with readers the everlasting joy of discovery and the neverending urge to keep exploring