Recommended routes
Model routes for a trip of seeing, walking and thinking
Routes by car linking memorial sites. Travel times are estimates from a map service, with notes on closing days.
- Along the Iwate coast, south to north: Rikuzentakata to Miyako, 2 days 1 night (by car)From Takata-Matsubara Memorial Park in Rikuzentakata through Ofunato, Kamaishi, Otsuchi and Yamada, to Taro in Miyako.
- Kesennuma to Minamisanriku: half a day to a day (by car)The ruins in Kesennuma that kept a damaged school, and the Minamisanriku 311 Memorial, where testimonies teach disaster prevention.
- Ishinomaki, Onagawa & Higashimatsushima: a day following disaster ruins (by car)From the Higashimatsushima memorial museum through Ishinomaki's memorial museum, Kadonowaki and Okawa schools to the former Onagawa police box.
- From Sendai to southern Miyagi: Arahama, Yuriage, Iwanuma and Yamamoto in a day (by car)A day trip from Sendai to Arahama Elementary School, Yuriage, Millennium Hope Hills and Nakahama Elementary School in Yamamoto.
- Fukushima's Hamadori coast, north to south: Futaba, Namie, Tomioka, Naraha in a day (by car)From the memorial museum in Futaba to Ukedo Elementary School, the Tomioka archive and TEPCO's decommissioning archive center, and Naraha.
Many memorial sites close on Mondays or Tuesdays. Please check each facility's website for opening days and reservations before you set out. In areas hit by the tsunami and nuclear disaster, also check the latest road information and evacuation-zone conditions.