Six parks in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region are to be reorganized into a single national park covering about 300 kilometers of coastline as a memorial to the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Six parks in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region are to be reorganized into a single national park covering about 300 kilometers of coastline as a memorial to the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Environment Ministry officials said they hope the park along the Sanriku coast of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures will serve as a symbol of rebuilding efforts following the March 11 disaster.
Officials plan to set up hiking trails that could serve as evacuation routes in future disasters.
The park is tentatively named Sanriku reconstruction national park.
Eco-tours will be held to remind visitors of the extent of devastation caused by the quake and tsunami it spawned. Survivors will be on hand to offer first-hand accounts of the disaster.
Ministry officials said the wilderness area will be designated a new national park in the next fiscal year.
It will include the Tanesashi Kaigan Hashikamidake prefectural park in Aomori, the Rikuchukaigan National Park, which stretches 180 kilometers from Iwate to Miyagi prefectures, and the Matsushima prefectural park in Miyagi Prefecture.
Environment Ministry officials said long hiking trails would connect the six parks.
Huge boulders swept far inland by the tsunami as well as pine and cedar trees that survived the disaster are to be preserved untouched as a reminder to future generations of the destructive power of the quake and tsunami.
Almost all of the pine trees in the Takatamatsubara area of the Rikuchukaigan National Park were toppled by tsunami.
The ministry will work with local governments to restore the natural features of the parks.
The Environment Ministry is seeking 500 million yen ($6.5 million) in the fiscal 2012 budget to create the new national park.
Environment Minister Goshi Hosono visited the Jodogahama coast of the Rikuchukaigan National Park on Oct. 8 and told reporters, "The new park will provide hope for the future."