Explainer | How Japan’s new 1,000km hiking trail through earthquake- and tsunami-stricken lands teaches you an inspirational lesson
- The breathtaking Michinoku Coastal Trail in Japan’s Tohoku region traverses countryside, villages and towns devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- A particularly spectacular stretch is the South Fudai section, which follows the Sanriku coastline, with its 200m-high cliffs and otherworldly rock formations
When Japan reopens to international travel, a treat awaits hikers, “forest bathers” and those who like getting close to nature.
The newly opened Michinoku Coastal Trail runs for an astonishing 1,000km (620 miles) through four prefectures – Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima – in the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu. The ends can be found in the cities of Hachinohe (in Aomori) and Soma (in Fukushima), both of which can be reached by bullet train from Tokyo.
The trail passes through rugged countryside, small fishing villages and coastal towns devastated by the tremors and 13-metre-high (43-foot) waves of Japan’s 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Tohoku is a wild, remote land. It was included on National Geographic magazine’s Best Trips 2020 list and Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2020. Yet it remains virtually unknown to tourists.
In 2019, less than 2 per cent of foreign visitors ventured to Tohoku, an indication of where the region lies in relation to the beaten track. The Michinoku Coastal Trail, named after a historic region that is now part of modern-day Tohoku (michinoku means “the end of the road”), was opened in June 2019 by the Ministry of the Environment to attract people to the region, in the hope of boosting the local economies ravaged by the 2011 disaster.
