Japan - Japan's new tsunami zone tourist trade

CNN: Japan's new tsunami zone tourist trade (http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/life/japans-new-tsunami-zone-tourist-trade-973959?hpt=itr_t1)

Miyako City in the far north of Japan was once famous for its stunning beach at Jodogahama, just around the headland from Miyako Bay. That and the port's world-record-holding, 10-meter-high tidal wave barriers.

Then, “stunning” was swept away by the black waters of March 11, 2011, leaving just “stunned” in its wake.

But that was then and this is now.

Miyako and hard-hit cities like Kamaishi and Rikuzen Takata along the Iwate coast are determined to pull something from those dark days, even if it means promoting tours in the tsunami zone.

During May and early June, local tour company Iwate Kenpoku Kanko will be doing just that, offering guided bus trips targeting these very areas.

The only thing that might have made a good tourist attraction was this:

http://assets.knowledge.allianz.com/img/rock_ship_tsunami_japan_disaster_day_44121.jpg

But that was taken apart several months ago.

The region has what it's always had - spectacular natural scenery (http://www.npaj.or.jp/parks/np/rikuchu.html) - and the sooner people start to visit again, the better for the folks who live there. There are bound to be some "disaster rubberneckers" and to some degree it's natural to want to see the region to understand what happened.

There are bound to be some "disaster rubberneckers" and to some degree it's natural to want to see the region to understand what happened.
It's got a name now and somewhere where you can go get a degree in the phenomenon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17814100