How a visionary mayor saved his town from a massive tsunami
Fudai is a small town on the northern coast of Iwate prefecture. The interview with Mr. Maekawa was conducted right in front of the Fudai Watergate here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GhTpN7jwRvuCAe8E8
One of the highlights of the MCT in Fudai is Nedarihama, here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/fym9fCrjqyiQBhJXA
I’m a full-time guide, mostly up in Tohoku (northeast Japan) but I also guide groups up Mt. Fuji in the pre and post season as well as lead normal tours in places like Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo when contracted.
http://www.gonorthjapan.com/
If you’re interested in hiring me to guide you either on a hike or around town, send me an email through this channel or message me on Instagram or Twitter. Some additional info is available here: https://gonorthjapan.com/
If you like my videos and would like to help me produce more and better videos, consider supporting me on Patreon! I also post monthly Patreon-exclusive drone videos, if that interests you! https://www.patreon.com/GoNorthJapan
GoNorth Japan merchandise is now available! Support the channel by buying a hoodie!
https://teespring.com/stores/go-north-japan-merch
Follow me on:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/quinlan/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/gonorthj
#Fudai #Seawall #Tsunami
26 Comments
Good job Mayor San, building the sea wall higher than usual, Usual is always minimum. Only a very big Tsunami will hurt you.
Thank you for sharing. It must have been really difficult to execute the expensive and massive project for the small village even people recognize its absolute needs since Tsunami had repeatedly hit the regions. A big respect to the visionary mayor and the villagers who supported him. Quinlanさん、貴重なお話を共有して頂き本当にありがとうございました。
Lesson learned are just lessons observed if no action is taken to mitigate the risk.
You spent a lot of time showing us your face, instead of showing us scenes of the places and events you were talking about.
I am from the north east coast of England, where we never ever have anything that looks like a tsunami. But I learned about them in geography. During the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami then ten year old Tilly Smith, from Surrey, recognized the signs from a geography lesson and told her parents… who didn't believe her. Happily an English speaking Japanese man heard her and told her parents that there had been a quake in Sumatra and she was probably right. The beach was evacuated and nobody died on that beach. He mother was one of the last to evacuate and barely made it. Sorry dude, American education just sucks. My friends have three kids and lived in Longmont Colorado, but when it was time for the eldest to go to school he saw a job posting for his role at a sister facility outside of Edinburgh. So they moved to Scotland for the better education and healthcare. Twenty five years now and they never looked back.
Fantastic story!!! Fantastic video!!!!
What an interesting and moving video! As someone who originates from the place which gave the world the word 'ria' and having spent my entire life living on the coast, I love learning about coastal communities and that stretch of the Japanese coast really interests me and not just because it is stunningly beautiful. I have to confess I didn't know anything about it until the tsunami brought it to global attention, but since then I have enjoyed learning about it and how the people there live with the threat of tsunami.
I thoroughly enjoyed the interview – and it strongly reinforced my belief in the importance of authorities investing in the safety and wellbeing of the public which they serve – even when the cost seems disproportionate to the threatened risks, or to the size of the population. Thanks so much for sharing this super interesting bit of modern Japanese history.
I heard about this mayor’s story. He retired somewhat disgraced because people didn’t like the fact that they were spending so much money at the time to build the sea wall. In his final speech, he said that the people will one day understand. They do now.
I was watching a documentary about the mayor and it was called his folly for many years until after the 2011 tsunami. Often those who are able to foresee problems are never appreciated until after the calamity.
I remember I watched your interview with Takeshi time ago 🙂
Wich prefecture do you live in now ?
2026 年 3 月 20 日。2026 年の目覚め。
What makes me really sad is troughout the world the depopulation of small towns…
Archaeologists don't find fossils.
That would be palaeontologists.
“Well…to be fair…” Most everyplace on the planet was at the bottom of a Sea at one time or another; but all snarkiness aside, this was very well done. Thank You!
I have watched just about every Japanese tsunami video there is. True insight saved those lives then and now invigorating the social dynamics by helping the trail hikers. Amazing person! Loved tour video and joined 😀🇦🇺
Hi Quinlan, thanks for the videos! I really loved the earlier ones where you were hiking, showing the trail, talking with people … with you would make more, even it if is of a place where you've been already.
Some day I will come to Japan and will visit you … until then:
Wish you all the best in 2025!
He definitely got inspiration from the Netherlands deltaworks 😉.
Very inspiring. Thanks.
Happy New Year, Quinlan and thank you for another beautiful story!
A remarkable Achievement ( the Sea Wall ) that eventually paid off .
Very interesting!
That "smaller" one from Chile I assume is the Valdivia earthquake – So that's the largest recorded Earthquake in History 9.6 and lasted for 10 minutes.
3 odd Tsunami waves hit Valdivia itself – resulting Tsunamis went across the Pacific and hit Japan, all other countries in the region and had an impact in Alaska.
I never heard the man's complete name mentioned. Allow me:
Kotaku Wamura
Consider this man when you thinking of administrators and bureaucrats. He was the Mayor of Fudai for 10 terms. He saved the lives of all those people on March 11, 2011, all while having been deceased for years.
Thanks!
1:15 into the video I might point out that archaeologists don't go looking for fossils (other than possibly those of homo sapiens/Neanderthals, or other extinct species related to humans). I'm sure no archaelogists went looking for fossils in those cliffs, but I'm sure that PALEONTOLOGISTS did.