While a natural
disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami can be devastating enough,
the ongoing damage that it does reaches far beyond the physical
damage caused at the time. After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
in which more than 18,000 people lost their lives, great efforts were
made to promote tourism to the area in order to stimulate growth.
While buildings (and lives) are being rebuilt, the public image of a
place devastated by a natural disaster can take much longer to put
right – on the news, all you see are the shock headlines, the
casualty rates, the best shots of the worst hit areas. What they
don't report on are people slowly restoring the equilibrium,
returning to normality – the shops and restaurants and public
attractions that do their best to reopen, only to discover that there
is nobody coming.
In Tohoku, dark
tourism has played its part with the introduction of 'recovery
tourism'. Holidaymakers can go on tours to see the damage left behind
by the disaster, see the skeletal remains of buildings which are now
little more than empty shells and learn more about the catastrophe.
But even with this unique opportunity to witness the destruction
first hand, five years later and tourism is still not what it used to
be, especially in the worst hit areas.
Tourism is vital in
helping a community get back on its feet after a natural disaster.
For one thing it keeps people employed – in a time when many people
have already lost their jobs, what the community doesn't need is more
people unemployed i.e. more people relying on the government for
their monetary needs, more people without their own disposable income
to pour into the community.
Having lived through the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake has promoted me to start this blog. What the Promote Kyushu Project aims to do is create awareness of the importance of post-disaster tourism and encourage people to visit. Rather than the flashy news stories of what attractions you can't go to, on this blog you'll find links to places that you can visit – and should! Places such as tourist attractions, restaurants, shops and other small businesses that are struggling to get back on their feet since the catastrophe and need custom – your custom.
Whether
you live in Japan or abroad, don't rule out Kyushu as a possible
holiday destination just because you are worried it's unsafe – it's
not. Of course there are places which have been destroyed or are
still in a state of utter devastation, but they are few and far
between and, for the most part, tourist attractions are up and
running and waiting for you. So have a browse – find out which
local restaurant you can support by going there for dinner or which
local museum is eagerly waiting for more visitors.
がんばる熊本!!
We can do it!
