A couple of weeks from now, five long years will have passed since the triple disasters of 3.11, which devastated large swaths of the Tohoku coast and threw lives off balance all across eastern Japan, including Tokyo. The road to recovery has been long and steep, but the disaster-affected region is squarely on the mend, with travellers also slowly returning to an area rich in natural beauty, history and tasty edibles.
Accompanied by a fellow Time Outer from New York, we headed up to the northeast for a week in January to see with our own eyes how Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures are doing at present. In addition to studying the state of the recovery process, we were eager to learn about all there is to do, see, experience and eat in Tohoku right now. The results of our quest will be published over four weeks in both the print and online editions of Time Out New York, as well as on our own website. The first part, where we follow the samurai in Fukushima’s Aizu-Wakamatsu, is out now – read the article here.
Produced in association with NHK World, our Tohoku article series is also timed to coincide with New York’s Japan Week, held at Grand Central Terminal from March 10 to 12. If you’re in the Big Apple on any of those three days, make sure to check it out – additional information can be found here.