The disasters of March 11 2011 washed away whole villages at the coast of Northeast Japan and destroyed the lives of thousands. Meskell (2012: 558) describes such places as “negative heritage, a conflictual site that becomes the repository of negative memory in the collective imaginary.” The scholar emphasizes the dual role of such places, as they can be either used for positive didactic purposes as it has been done Auschwitz or Hiroshima, or they are to be erased “if such places cannot be culturally rehabilitated (…)” (Meskell 2012: 558).

In Japan as well, how to remember the disasters has been recognized as an important task. This paper investigates the efforts of several communities in Iwate and Miyagi Prefecture to integrate the negative experiences in their collective memory with Bosai Tourism (Disaster Risk Mitigation Tourism).

By listening to the stories of survivors (kataribe) and visiting places directly affected by the 2011 tsunami, visitors are promised not only to learn about the impact of the disasters but also about appropriate behavior in case of earthquakes or tsunamis. I argue that Bosai Tourism is part of a cultural rehabilitation process to cope with the 3.11 triple disasters.

This paper is part of a larger study in which I plan to compare the integration of negative heritage within cultural rehabilitation processes in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures with such in Fukushima Prefecture.