The ‘Hayate’ Shinkansen is one bullet train which services the Tohoku (North Eastern) regions of Japan, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 quake and tsunami just over a year ago. How unfortunate, as I still remember at the time, the Tohoku region had only just launched it’s campaign to attract holiday goers to the region before disaster struck. Even though many of the local towns along the north-eastern coast suffered heavy damages as a result of the tsunami, there are also many other tourist destinations in surrounding areas that were only slightly affected but unfortunate to have their reputation tarnished due to it’s geographic proximity.

The ongoing challenge facing these holiday destinations is convincing the public and the international traveler that it is ‘safe’ to start revisiting since the events a year ago. Certainly from what I could glean from when I visited the popular town of Matsushima is that it’s still charming and as beautiful as it was before.

Photos ©Thong Van