Japans quake-hit regions promote disaster tourism

November 19, 2011

Bakery and cake shop Eclair serves customers in the tsunami-hit city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture after it reopened following the March 11 tsunami and earthquake disaster. AFP/Relaxnews pic
TOKYO, Nov 19 Companies and communities in Japans disaster-stricken northeast are devising schemes to earn a living from their misfortune, eight months after their livelihoods were wiped out by the biggest natural disaster to strike the nation in living memory.

Those efforts received a boost this week when the foreign ministry announced that foreign tourists who visit Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima the three prefectures worst affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami will not have to pay for a visa from next week. The scheme will run until at least November 2016, the ministry said, and travellers will be required to show transport tickets or proof of their accommodation to be exempt from paying for a tourist visa.

The visas cost 3,000 (RM123) for a single entry and 6,000 for multiple entries and the scheme is aimed at visitors from countries such as China, Thailand and Malaysia. Travellers from a number of countries are already not required to pay for a tourist visa.

Some 77,000 tourists visited the three prefectures in 2010, but numbers have been significantly lower since March 11, falling 88 per cent in Fukushima and 90 per cent in Iwate during the second quarter.

But people who earned a living from the tourism industry in the affected areas are devising their own schemes to attract visitors.

A group of residents of the port town of Otsuchi, for example, is inviting visitors to stay in their homes and experience fishing and farming in the community. They are also creating a tourism centre to show the history of the town and the damage that the earthquake and tsunami caused, while they also plan to train local guides ! and prod uce souvenirs from the town.

Elsewhere, Sanriku Railway Co. started tours of disaster areas as early as May and has so far taken more than 1,000 people through some of the hardest hit parts of Iwate Prefecture. JTB Tohoku Inc. introduced similar tours of Rikuzentakata in October.

Another proposal is to create a Japanese version of Germanys famous Fairytale Road the length of the coast of Iwate Prefecture. The route would take in the key points of the towns of Otsuchi, Kamaichi and Hanamaki which served as the backdrop for many of the poems and fairy tales that were written by Kenji Miyazawa.

The organisers hope to imitate the route that has been created in Germany to follow the tales of the Brothers Grimm and attract both domestic and foreign visitors. AFP/Relaxnews



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