Fukushima - tsunami and exclusion zone sites

Hi All,

We are staying at SHIZUKUISHI Prince Hotel in Iwate for 5 nights from 6 Jan for some skiiing. There is nothing much there except the ski resort so the kids wanted to do a day trip to see Fukishima, especially the elementary school museum following the tsunami and in amd around Namie and Ukedo.

The issue is that it is about 3 hours there and three hours back from closest major station to the ski resort i.e. Morioka and we would go via Sendai to see the sights in Fukishima.

The Prince Hotel has a shuttle bus to and from Miroka station but they are pretty irregular

The issue is that we can get a shuttle to Morioka in morning but on the way back we will get back to Morioka too late for a shuttle.

So, we have two options-

1. come back around 7.30-8pm at Morioka and try and catch a tači to SHIZUKUISHI Prince Hotel, or
2. we cut the Prince Hotel visit short and o 10 Jan check out, get early shuttle and trai to Sendai and check into a Hotel near station. From Sendai we then visit the above mnetioned places and get back to the Sendai Hotel for the evening.
The nextorning we catch the shinkassen back to Tokyo.

I would be interested to hear people thoughts on options. l
Also, once in Sendai, how would you recommend getting to the points of interest? LocL train, hire car or perhaps a half day tour if one leave from Sendai?
thanks

Option 2, ie to do it in the way from Morioka to Tokyo would seem the logical way to do this trip.

Option 2 sounds good to me.

The Former Kadonowaki Elementary School in Ishinomaki is also impressive and a little easier accessible (actually after looking it up, the difference in time is suprisingly small):
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5040.html#kadonowaki

For Ishinomaki you could use trains, but if you want to go to Namie, then I recommend to take the shinkansen to Sendai and rent a car from there.

If you go to Ukedo, I also recommend to visit the nearby nuclear disaster museum:
https://www.fipo.or.jp/lore/en

Thank you for the information.

I think we would like to do the elementary school and the nuclear disaster museum.

If we just did these two places, what would best itinerary and mode of transport for this? Noting it is best we do stay overnight in Sendai.

The nuclear disaster museum is a 25 minute walk from Futaba Station, but their website says there is also a shuttle bus.

The elementary school memorial/museum doesn't appear to have any bus access.
https://namie-ukedo.com/access/

The elementary school is a 36 minute walk from the disaster museum and along the way is a "Fukushima Reconstruction Memorial Park Observatory". The walk and observatory might be worth it if you really want to see the town's rebuilding progress since the disaster (and if your family doesn't mind walking).

Otherwise, the school is best accessed by taxi, which is probably affordable if you are traveling with your family.

The easiest way is to rent a car in Sendai and drive there and back. It does not often snow there, there is currently no snow, and there is no snow in the forecasts, in case you are worried about driving under winter conditions. If you can't drive in Japan, then see the information in the above post.