Kesennuma City Memorial Museum

What to know

On March 11, 2011, Kesennuma Koyo High School was damaged by the tsunami, which submerged most of its four-story concrete building. Eight years later, the school ruins reopened as the Kesennuma City Memorial Museum (Higashinihon Daishinsai Ikō Denshōkan), serving as a disaster memorial and a reminder of tsunami dangers.

The former high school stands eight kilometers south of Kesennuma's city center on a peninsula that was particularly hard hit, not far from Cape Iwaisaki. Thanks to good disaster preparedness and regular drills, all students and teachers at the school during the earthquake survived the tsunami.

A visit begins in the newly built museum complex next to the former school with a sobering 20-minute video about the events of March 11. Visitors then enter the former school buildings, where several rooms have been preserved as they were left after the tsunami, including a third-floor classroom where an entire car remains. The complex also contains the ruins of the former gymnasium, viewable only from outside, and some photo galleries.

The Kesennuma City Memorial Museum is a 20-minute walk from Rikuzen-Hashikami bus stop on the JR Kesennuma BRT Line. From Kesennuma Station, the bus ride takes 25 minutes and costs 260 yen one way, covered by the Japan Rail Pass and regional JR passes for the Tohoku Region. Buses run about twice per hour. Scenic Cape Iwaisaki is a further 15-minute walk from the school at the tip of the peninsula.

Visitors arriving by car can use a large free parking lot in front of the museum, reached in a 20-minute drive south of Kesennuma's city center.