A fisherman in the forest?
What may at first seem like different worlds colliding is but a natural consequence of the inextricable connection between spheres of forest, ocean and community here in Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.
Kesennuma Bay, which is located in the middle of the Sanriku Coast, has long flourished as a base for inshore and offshore fishing, but since the 1960s the bay’s environment had deteriorated due to a massive red tide. The inflow of domestic wastewater into the river and the destruction of the forest were polluting the bay.
An oyster fisherman took a stand against this situation. Under the slogan ‘Mori-wa-Umi-no-Koibito’, translated by the group as ‘The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for the forest’, he and his fellow fishermen started to plant trees in the upper reaches of the Okawa River, which flows into Kesennuma Bay, in 1989. A hands-on environmental education programme began the following year, and tens of thousands of students have visited the field thus far. In 2009, the movement was incorporated as a registered non-profit organisation, and in 2011, just as it was ready to respond more actively to the needs of society, the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated the sea and the life in Moune.

On this tour, travellers will be brought into the heart of this story to discover the role this interconnection of forest, ocean and community plays in Coastal Miyagi; not only in recovery from a history of natural disaster, but as the foundation of a resilient and sustainable future.
Through hands-on experience of each sphere – forest, ocean, community – travellers will unpack the role their interconnection has played in the region’s recovery following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. In the face of incomprehensible adversity, for every person who said ”it’s hopeless” there is another resilient local who never gave up. Guided by these champions of hope and possibility, travellers can immerse themselves into the story of the region, embracing a transformative opportunity to become themselves co-creators and custodians of a sustainable future. Leaving behind the transient consumption of conventional tourism, a cycle of regenerative tourism is born from empathy and resonance.