On March 11th 2011, the tsunami caused by earthquake vanished Yamamoto (山元町) town in four minutes. Basically, Yamamoto Town is the largest victim in the 2011 tsunami. The weed in this picture stands for the strong spirit of Yamamoto people.
I went to Yamamoto Town today, and I was accompanied by Mr. Tomari from GRA (農業生産法人株式会社GRA) – the largest technology company in Yamamoto Town.
In Yamamoto Town, you can see that many places are under construction now.
普門寺-A Temple with Café
The first place we went today is the Fumon Temple (普門寺), which was rebuilt after the tsunami. The temple is quite “modern” in that it has a café inside.
It’s a beautiful temple, although we were not allowed to get inside because of a special ceremony today.
You can see the sign on the building, showing where the seawater had reached in the tsunami. The address of 普門寺 is as follows.
山元堤防-The Shields against Potential Tsunami
After the Fumen temple, we went to the Yamamoto Dike (山元堤防). The local citizens built multiple layers of “shields” in front of the sea.
This kind of wood fences are used to block the sands and rocks that may come with tsunamis in the future.
The layer after layer fences are quite magnificent and look like trenches in the war according to me.
Giant rocks are the first layers of defense, which is just near the sea.
The seaside of Yamamoto is very beautiful.
Even after six years now you can still see the relic of giant trees immersed in the weed.
写真館BRIDGEと橋元商店-Memory of the 2011 Catastrophe
Touched by the scene at the seaside, I demanded to take a look at the Bridge Photo Gallery (写真館BRIDGEと橋元商店), where there are abundance materials and image records or what happened before and after the tsunami.
The Bridge Photo Gallery is near the Hashimoto Shop (橋元商店). The addess of 橋元商店 is as follows.
山下駅(Yamashita Station) and Its Neighborhood-A Brand New Town
After the photo display, we walked to the newly-built Yamashita Station (山下駅).
The station and the neighborhoods look very new and as a matter of fact, pretty American-style.
The waiting area of the station looks like those fancy ones at the airport.
The colorful painting in front of the stations reveals the history and culture of Yamamoto Town.
Coffee and Lunch-A Western Experience in Yamamoto
The Petite Joie Coffee (プチット・ジョア) is a newly-built coffee shop, which is decorated in a western-manner.
The snacks are very good looking under the sunlight. The address of プチット・ジョア is as follows.
The Orata Restaurant (オラータ) is a western cuisine kitchen offers hamburgers, pizza and pasta. The western food was cooked with fresh seafood, which is quite Japanese style indeed.
There are many fruits and craftworks in Yume-Ichigo-No-Sato(夢いちごの郷) . The Yamamoto Strawberry is both nationally and internationally famous, so are the peripheral products.The address of 夢いちごの郷 is as follows.
The pictures on the all are about strawberry as well as the revive of Yamamoto Town.
無房-A Wood Workshop with Unrivalled Products
Our last stop is the legendary Mubou Wood Workshop (無房) of MR. Niinuma Masaaki (新沼正明), which is very famous in the Tohoku Area.
Check out all those handmade crafts, they are all proud works of Mr. Niinuma Masaaki, who spent 20 years living in the countryside area of Yamamoto making woods.
Every year, lots of citizens in nearby area came to this place, just to take a look at Mr. Niinuma and his extremely artistic works. Amy Ge is a Tohoku University student as well as a professional photographer, was shocked by the masterpieces of Mr. Niinuma.
I was proud to have bought some of the best works of him and brought them home. The address of 無房 is as follows.
