Opened in October 2022 in Miyagi Prefecture, Minamisanriku 311 Memorial is an educational and commemorative facility dedicated to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011.

Designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, the building was conceived as a symbolic gateway connecting the sea, town, mountains, and memorial spaces. Its exterior uses locally sourced Minamisanriku cedar louvers arranged to create a sense of being drawn into the structure.

The memorial features an exhibition gallery, art zone, learning theater, and an observatory, among other areas. Some exhibition panels, testimonial videos, and learning programs are available in English and Traditional Chinese.

Beyond the memorial itself, Minamisanriku also offers four guided walking tours led by local residents. Among them is the newly launched Tourism × Disaster Prevention! Meet a Real Moai Course, a 60-minute experience introduced in April 2026 that combines sightseeing, disaster education, and stories of the town’s recovery.

Rather than simply viewing exhibits indoors, participants walk through the rebuilt town together with a local storyteller known as a kataribe, hearing firsthand accounts of the 2011 tsunami and learning how the community rebuilt itself afterward.

Traditionally, kataribe were people who orally passed down folk tales, legends, regional history, and cultural traditions from one generation to the next. But in modern Japan, the word has taken on an especially important role in places connected to war, natural disasters, and historical tragedies.

Rather than listening to a scripted lecture, visitors hear deeply personal accounts from kataribe while standing in the actual places where events unfolded. Many guides describe what they saw that day, how the town changed afterward, and what they hope future generations can learn from the disaster.

The route includes several important locations tied to the disaster and recovery efforts, including:
・Minamisanriku 311 Memorial
・The former Disaster Management Office building
・The rebuilt shopping district
・Minamisanriku’s Moai Statues

As visitors move through the town, guides explain not only what happened during the tsunami, but also how local residents rebuilt their lives and community in the years that followed.

At first glance, the connection between Chile and a small Japanese fishing town may seem unexpected.

However, Minamisanriku has a long history with tsunami disasters dating back well before 2011. In 1960, the massive earthquake in Chile triggered a tsunami that crossed the Pacific Ocean and caused significant damage along Japan’s northeastern coastline, including Minamisanriku.

That shared experience eventually led to a friendship and cultural exchange between Chile and the town.

The Moai statues were originally installed as symbols of that connection. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of the area, Chile once again stepped forward in support, donating new Moai statues as symbols of hope, friendship, and recovery.

Today, they’ve become one of Minamisanriku’s most recognizable landmarks.

One of the most distinctive aspects of this experience is how naturally it combines tourism with education.

While the walking course includes photogenic landmarks and rebuilt streets filled with shops and restaurants, it also encourages visitors to think seriously about disaster preparedness and resilience.

Standing in the actual locations where the tsunami struck gives many travelers a much deeper understanding of the scale of the disaster than they might get from photos or documentaries alone.

At the same time, the lively atmosphere of today’s Minamisanriku highlights the strength of the local community and the town’s ongoing recovery.

The program is aimed at a wide range of visitors, from educational school trips to independent travelers exploring the Tohoku region.

For travelers visiting Tohoku, Minamisanriku offers something quite different from Japan’s typical sightseeing destinations.

It’s a place where local stories, international friendship, disaster education, and modern reconstruction all come together in a deeply human way. And of course, it’s also one of the very few places in Japan where you can stand beside a genuine Moai statue.