At the time of the earthquake, classes at Kesennuma Koyo High School had already ended, but about 170 students remained for club activities.

The earthquake completely disrupted the peaceful after-school scene. The students were immediately evacuated to higher grounds under the guidance of the faculty and staff, and some staff brought important school documents to the 4th floor of the building.

Kesennuma Koyo High School is about 500 meters from the sea. You can see the beautiful blue sea and green pine forest from the second floor. The surrounding area was once and an expansive coastal landscape full of homes and factories, but the tsunami uprooted all of this, even reaching up to the 4th floor of the school building with powerful momentum.

“At that time, there were about 170 students in the school, but fortunately, there were no victims,” says Katsumi Sato, the museum's director.

“Daily awareness of disaster prevention has strongly increased. As you can see from the building, the damage of the tsunami was astounding. However, the actions of the teachers and students who did not give up and saved potential victims will also be passed on to future generations, along with the increased awareness of disaster prevention.”

For this purpose, the first thing you see in the Kesennuma City Memorial Museum is a video of the earthquake in the video corner. The images projected on the 300-inch large screen realistically convey the strength, size, and fear of the tsunami.

After deepening your understanding of the damage caused by the tsunami, you are brought to the school building, still intact from the way it was left during the earthquake.

You can visit the 1st, 3rd and 4th floors of the school building. First, you walk along the first-floor corridor, seeing each classroom. Steel frames are exposed, and broken windows remain as they are.

Scattered debris littler the ground, including iron, wood, and even objects like electrical appliances. The ocean breeze carries the scent of the sea in through the window, almost as a reminder that the building stands only 500 meters away from it... and of the fearsomeness of the tsunami.

When I went to the 3rd floor, a flipped-over car leaned against the classroom wall, having been carried in by the tsunami. The highest point of the tsunami was the 4th floor, and even the large iron letterboxes in the classrooms show obvious signs of rust from where the tsunami had flooded.

I could see the Pacific Ocean when I went up to the roof. Right at the top of the stairs, desks are placed, reproducing the scene at the time of the earthquake.

The faculty and staff, who predicted that the tsunami would reach the rooftop, used these desks, as well as stepladders that were being used for construction, to evacuate further up the rooftop.

Each affected classroom has a comment board with a QR code. If you scan the QR code, you can read explanations in English, Chinese, Korean, and Indonesian. The notice on the roof tells about the evacuated teachers and construction personnel at the time.

After passing the indoor playground, where the roof is now gone, you will see the white walls of the north school building.

Proceed along the hallway and return to the main building’s video exhibition. Here you will watch a documentary that focuses on three victims who live in Kesennuma City.

You will listen to four heart-wrenching stories from those who lost beloved family members in the tsunami, and junior high school students reading messages at their graduation ceremony that had been postponed due to the earthquake.

There is a 90-minute “Storyteller Guide” guided tour (6000 yen for groups of 1~20 people, reservation required) for those who want to know more about the earthquake and the memorial hall.

The best way to access the Kesennuma City Memorial Museum and Ruins of Koyo High School is by public transportation. It takes about 3 minutes by taxi from JR Rikuzen-Hashikami Station, and about 20 minutes on foot.

Text by: SHOE PRESs