Build the Memory

“Mirai e no kioku” means “Build the Memory” in Japanese. That’s what Google is trying to do with this Website. We’ll start with the coastal Miyahi Prefecture, which was largely leveled in the disaster.

This shows the quiet town in June 2008, long before the earthquake and tsunami.

The buildings you saw in the previous slide were leveled and swept away as seen in this image captured by Google Street View in July 2011.

Here is Onagawa as recorded by Street View in July 2008 before the disaster, stacked with bustling buildings.

Onagawa’s buildings have largely been swept away, as seen in this August 2011 view.

This is Shinchi, with plenty of trees and shrubs, before the tsunami in July 2008.

The vegetation has been ripped from the ground, leaving bare soil, as recorded just this past November.

Google’s Street View doesn’t have before footage of every Japanese prefecture that suffered from the tsunami, but it did take some after pictures of affected areas in the Iwate Prefecture. This shot was taken in August 2011.

Buildings were shredded, but some were left standing in Otsuchi, as seen in October 2011.

In Kesennuma a large ship lies marooned on dry land next to a coastal road as record in July.