A Tsunami Landmark to Come Down

The scars of the March 11 tsunami remain vivid in many parts of coastal Tōhoku. A major postdisaster landmark in the city of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, is the Kyōtoku Maru No. 18, a 330-ton fishing vessel that was washed some 750 meters inland from the harbor by the waves.

(Photo by Héctor García.)

It isn't a landmark that the people of Kesennuma want around any more, though. The Asahi Shimbun reports that the city government hoped to maintain the vessel in that location as a testament to the danger and power of the tsunami, but the residents wanted the eyesore gone. The owner of the Kyōtoku Maru, a fisheries company in Iwaki, Fukushima, has hired Ship Recycle Muroran, an NPO located in Muroran, Hokkaidō, to dismantle the vessel. Work will begin on September 16 and continue through the middle of next month. After October 19, when work is scheduled to finish, the only way to see this sight will be in photos, or on Google Maps. (PD)

(Click for larger map.)