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Kesennuma Earthquake Memorial Museum

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Miyagi · Kesennuma

38.8310°N, 141.5897°E

Kesennuma Koyo High School stood on the shore at Hashikami. On 11 March 2011 a tsunami of more than thirteen metres went through it, and every student got out alive. The building was kept.

It has not been tidied. Cars are still in third-floor classrooms where the water put them, textbooks are still on the floor, and the fourth floor holds the wreckage that washed in and stopped there. Walking through it is the exhibit; the interpretive hall attached to it does the explaining. Local secondary school students work as guides, passing the account to people their own age and younger. Admission is ¥600, it closes on Mondays, and it opens on the eleventh of every month regardless of the day.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

9:30 AM – 5:00 PM April–September | 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM October–March | Last admission one hour before closing

Closed: Closed Mondays, or the following day when the Monday is a public holiday | Closed 29 December – 4 January | Opens on the 11th of each month, 1 September and 5 November regardless

Entrance Fee

¥600 adults | ¥400 high school students | ¥300 elementary and junior high school students

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

2 hours

Getting There

Access Information

Hajikami Seko 9-1, Kesennuma. About 25 minutes by car from Kesennuma-Chuo IC, or by BRT to the Rikuzen-Koyo stop. Open 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM from April to September and 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM from October to March, with last admission one hour before closing. Closed Mondays, or the following day when the Monday is a public holiday, and 29 December – 4 January; it opens on the 11th of every month, on 1 September and on 5 November regardless of the day. Admission ¥600 for adults, ¥400 for high school students and ¥300 for elementary and junior high school students, with group rates and an annual pass. Multilingual audio guides are available by QR code in English, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian. Storyteller sessions run separately.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Everyone in the building survived.** Students and staff evacuated in time. That fact is the reason the school could be kept as a ruin rather than a grave. **Nothing has been tidied.** Cars in third-floor classrooms, wreckage on the fourth. The building is presented as the water left it and that is deliberate. **It opens on the 11th of every month.** Whatever day that falls on, along with 1 September and 5 November. Otherwise Mondays are closed. **Scan the QR audio guide.** English, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian. The building without commentary is affecting but not informative. **Local students guide.** Middle and high school pupils who were infants in 2011 now tell the account. Booking a storyteller session is worth doing.

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