How walking the Michinoku Coastal Trail in Tohoku in northeast Japan offers a sobering reminder of nature’s destructive power and a symbol of recovery from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
New: You can now listen to articles.I gazed upon the Miracle Pine Tree, the lone survivor out of 70,000 pine trees that were mowed down by raging waters. Nearby was a battered structure of a former youth hostel. Elsewhere, I spotted white flowers laid out near a tree grove next to the ocean.
Launched in 2019 as part of Japan’s post-tsunami reconstruction project, the trail was an initiative meant to attract more people to visit the beautiful region and boost recovering local economies.The 1,025km-long trail winds its way along the Pacific Ocean, a path that passes through fishing towns and villages. While the MCT is still relatively unexplored by foreign tourists, the folks behind Walk Japan hope to make it as iconic as the Nakasendo Way or Kumano Kodo hiking route.
After our picnic lunch, we trudged down a sandy beach where locals played volleyball and passed through a beautiful black pine forest, before reaching our accommodation for the day – a small inn just inland of Tanesashi Coast.Our second day on the trail took us to one of the remotest countryside vistas of the tour, from pine coastal forests that opened from time to time to the vast blue seas. At Samurai-ishi, we paused by giant rock slabs on which mighty waves crashed spectacularly.
The going was sometimes tough, but just seeing beautiful scenery, bathing in the forests’ energies, or having an exquisite seafood feast at night made us content. The hours flew by as we watched Chef Ito work his magic in the open kitchen. The main dish was tender guineafowl, accompanied with sweet potato and spring onion, broccoli and shiitake mushrooms. My personal favourite was a light milk sorbet using milk sourced from a free-range cow fed on 50 grass varieties, with local red bean paste, Amazon cacao and white cacao shavings.Day five proved to be the biggest test of our mettle.
Finally, we reached a clutch of fishermen huts. Rebuilt after being washed away in 2011, the Experience Village and Tanohata Network non-profit organises tourist activities such as salt-making workshops and scuba diving trips, and tsunami storytelling and banya fishing and cooking sessions. One of the worst-hit cities, large parts of Miyako have been newly rebuilt. Here, we walked our final stretch: The Hama Kaido, an ancient trail from the Edo period that was originally the main thoroughfare between the coast and Sendai, Tohoku's principal city. Once used to transport products such as salt, iron and seafood, it became a makeshift path by tsunami rescue workers when roads proved impassable.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Healing the Divide's Iris Koh gets new charges, including telling Telegram users to harass doctorsSINGAPORE — Iris Koh, founder of the Healing the Divide group known to be against Covid-19 vaccination, was handed five new charges on Thursday (May 9).
Read more »
Creative consultant Tracy Phillips’ home an oasis of healingHer eclectic home is a perfect representation of her dynamic and multifaceted personality.
Read more »
Healing the Divide's Iris Koh gets new charges, including telling Telegram users to harass doctorsThe founder of Healing the Divide group, which is known to be against COVID-19 vaccination, allegedly told members of the Telegram groups to obstruct workers at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
Read more »
Living funerals can offer healing and reconciliationExperts say such celebrations of life help not only those who are dying but those who attend them.
Read more »
Fighting rages across Gaza as UN chief urges ‘immediate ceasefire’Journalists, medics and witnesses reported strikes across the coastal territory.
Read more »
Israel strikes Gaza as more Rafah evacuations orderedJournalists, medics and witnesses reported strikes across the coastal territory.
Read more »