1

Journal of JSCE, Vol. 1, 242-250, 2013
Special Topic - 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (Invited Paper)

RECONSTRUCTION PLAN OF OTSUCHI TOWN,
KAMIHEI COUNTY, IWATE PREFECTURE
Yu NAKAI1
1Member of JSCE, Professor, Dept. of Civil Eng., The University of Tokyo(3-1 Hongo 7-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan)
E-mail: yu@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

This paper reports the drafting process and current outline of the reconstruction plan for Otsuchi Town,
Kamihei County, Iwate Prefecture, which suffered devastating tsunami damage caused by the Great East
Japan Earthquake.
Key Words : Great East Japan Earthquake, reconstruction plan, Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture(MLIT), the author became an Otsuchi Town supervisor—a technical adviser—for basic surveys1) for
the reconstruction plan. At the request of the Otsuchi Town government, the author became amember of the Revival and Creation Council, which
discusses basic principles of reconstruction, and acoordinator of the Local Reconstruction Council,
which discusses the reconstruction plan in eachneighborhood.
In the 2012 fiscal year, according to the agreement of the University of Tokyo—to which the author belongs—to support reconstruction efforts of
Otsuchi Town, the author provided practical support
to materialize the reconstruction plan while remain-

1. INTRODUCTION
This paper reports the process and outline of thereconstruction plan for Otsuchi Town, Kamihei
County, Iwate Prefecture, which suffered devastating tsunami damage caused by the Great East Japan
Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The author has been
involved in the planning process of the basic reconstruction plan for Otsuchi Town as an external expert; thus, this paper is from the author’s point ofview.
In the 2011 fiscal year, at the request of the Cityand Regional Development Bureau of the Ministryof Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

N(Otsuchi River)

NamiitaOgaguchiKirikiri

Sawayama(Kozuchi River)

Gensui

Sakuragicho
Machikata

Ando

Hanawada
0

Akahama
1000
m

Nobumatsu
Komakura

Otsuchi port

Fig. 2 Community structure of Otsuchi Town.

Fig.1 The location of Otsuchi Town.

242

ing the coordinator for the Local Reconstruction
Council. This report is in terms of these roles of theauthor. In addition, given the author’s area of expertise, this report is limited to the spatial planning aspect of the reconstruction plan.

2. OUTLINE AND CHARACTERISTICS
OF TSUNAMI DAMAGE TO OTSUCHITOWN(1) Outline of tsunami damage to Otsuchi Town
The giant tsunami that struck Otsuchi Town
claimed the lives of 802 people, and 479 people arestill missing as of January 31, 20122). The number ofvictims (1,281) is equivalent to 8.4 percent of the
population before the disaster (15,239). More thanhalf of the town’s senior officials, including themayor, were swept away by the tsunami; the town’s
administration basically lost its decision-making
capabilities.
The community structure of Otsuchi Town isshown in Fig.23). The coastal area comprises five
major neighborhoods: Machikata—with the largest
urban area and the center of the local government—Ando, Akahama, Kirikiri, and Namiita. Allof these neighborhoods were entirely destroyed. The
inundated area—of which 216.4 ha was completely
destroyed, 37.2 ha was half-destroyed, and 19.9 ha
was partly destroyed—amounted to 68% of the area
designated for land-use zoning4).
Along the Otsuchi and Kozuchi Rivers, which
empty into Otsuchi Bay closing in on Machikata,were neighborhoods such as Sawayama, Gensui,
and Ogaguchi; Sakuragicho and Hanawada; andKomakura and Nobumatsu. These neighborhoods
were also inundated. The maximum inundation
depth resulting from the tsunami exceeded 10 m inmany neighborhoods: 10.7 m in Machikata, 12.9 m
in Akahama, 16.1 m in Kirikiri, and so on5). Important public facilities such as the town hall, hospitals, railway stations, and schools became almost
completely unusable because they were either completely destroyed or inundated; the town was, literally, completely destroyed (Fig.3).
(2) Characteristics of tsunami damage in termsof historical landscapeThis section reports on the tsunami damage interms of the historical landscape. Paying attention to
the historical landscape can be expected to provide
suggestions for the reconstruction plan.
a) Characteristics concerning the whole affectedareaFirst, characteristics observed throughout the affected area, not limited to Otsuchi Town, are briefly

reported here.
An interesting observation was how shrines survived. This was true not only in Otsuchi Town but
also in Onagawa Town, Miyagi Prefecture, andRikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture (which suffered the most appalling damage among the affected
communities)—shrines near collapsed buildings
survived without collapsing (Fig.4). All of theseshrines were located just outside inundated areas. In
the plain stretching south from Sendai, there werecases where shrines located on microtopography

Fig.3 Devastated Machikata neighborhood in Otsuchi
Town (photographed by the author).

Amaterasumioya Shrine

Fig.4 Amaterasumioya Shrine in Rikuzentakata City escaping collapse (photographed by the author).

Fig.5 House lots covered with sand after the tsunami in
Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture (photographedby the author).

around 2 m above the surrounding land survived
despite being submerged. In general, a shrine is anative facility that maintains close relationships withthe community’s natural conditions, land-use patterns, and lifestyle. Although more than a few
shrines were naturally swept away by this tsunami,
the particular locations of the shrines may reflect
past experiences with tsunamis.
Particularly in the plain south of Sendai,long-standing traditional roads, neighborhoods, andtrees around residences clearly maintained their patterns despite being submerged. Because these are
generally located on microtopography, small differences in levels of land may have weakened thepower of the tsunami waves. Conversely, neighborhoods whose place-names included “shin” (new),such as Shinchi and Shinhama—neighborhoods

presumably developed in recent times—were completely destroyed by the relatively strong power ofthe waves. Furthermore, in Shinchi, Shinchi Town,
Fukushima Prefecture, residential areas transformed
from wetlands turned into wetlands after the tsunami; in Shinhama, Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture, residential areas transformed from sands weresimilarly covered with sand (Fig.5).
Thus, it may be possible that—back when technology for preventing tsunamis with seawalls was
not established—traditional locations of neighborhoods, land-use patterns, and locations of infrastructure and public facilities were selected so thatthey were less susceptible to tsunami damage orthey mitigated the extent of the damage.
b) Case of Otsuchi Town
The characteristics of the tsunami damage to Ot-

Highway (at the foot of mountain)
Dainenji Temple
Kozuchi Shrine
Koganji Temple
Kozuchi Shrine
Highway

Kozuchi Shrine

magistrate’s office

Yokkamachi

Youkamachi

Mukaigawara

Fig.6 Machikata neighborhood in Otsuchi Town in the Ansei Era (1854–1860).
N
Otsuchi river

Highway
Kozuchi Shrine

Highway

Shin-minatomachi

Kozuchi river

1000

0

1000
m

Fig.7 Topographic maps of Machikata neighborhood in 1913 (left) and 2001 (right).

244

suchi Town are thus described in terms of the historical landscape.
Fig.6 is a drawing of Machikata in the Ansei Era(1854–1860) in the last days of the Tokugawa government6). The towns of Yokkamachi, Youkamachi,
and Mukaigawara were formed on both sides of ahighway along mountains with public facilities suchas a magistrate’s office, temples, and shrines locatedat the foot of the mountains. As it is concentrated at
the foot of the mountains, the structure of the community can be recognized as one that allows people
to evacuate easily in the event of a tsunami.
Fig.7 shows topographic maps of Machikata in
1913 and 20017). The 1913 map shows the reconstructed neighborhood after it was damaged by the
Meiji Sanriku tsunami in 1896. Its community
structure did not differ from that in the Ansei Era.
With the highway located in the same place, the urban area was formed along the highway in a concentrated manner, while the area along the Otsuchi
and Kozuchi Rivers, which were the paths of thetsunamis, and the area around the estuary were wetlands or paddy fields. Public facilities such as the
town hall, schools, and shrines clung to the foot of
the mountains as before. The total population of
Otsuchi Town was around 9,500 back then.

In the 1970s, the period of high economic growth
after World War II, the urban area rapidly expanded,and the community structure changed. The area
along the Otsuchi and Kozuchi Rivers was urbanized; the area around the estuary was reclaimed, andfishery facilities were built. The population of thetown soared to approximately 20,000.
The 2011 tsunami destroyed the entire urban areaof Machikata, but Kozuchi Shrine, located in thesame place as before, escaped inundation by ahairsbreadth (Fig.8). Conversely, Shinminatomachi,
which was urbanized by reclaiming the path of tsunamis during the period of economic growth, wasstruck with greater power by the waves than otherneighborhoods: reinforced concrete buildings toppled, and all the piers of a railway viaduct broke attheir bases (Fig.9).
Based on the estimated population before the disaster, the population of Otsuchi Town would decrease to 9,850 in 2035; this population is almost thesame as it was around 19138). In this tsunami, 1,281
people lost their lives; in addition, the population
exodus accelerated. The town is highly likely to facea greater decrease in population than estimated in
the future. Therefore, it is essential to realize an urban structure that enables easy evacuation and lessens the extent of tsunami damage while compacting
the urban area in accordance with the decrease inpopulation. For this, the structure of Otsuchi Town
in the drawing of the Ansei Era and the 1913
topographic map can be informative in examining
the basic land-use patterns and facility locations.

3. GENERAL PROBLEMS FROM AN
EXAMINATION OF THE RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
This section briefly presents general problems
that were recognized from examining the reconstruction plan.

Fig.8 Kozuchi shrine escaping inundation (photographedby the author).

(1) No unifying agency for planningFirst, because the town was lost as a whole,wide-ranging projects have to be pursued simultaneously and comprehensively. Details of projects—from constructing coastal protection facilities
to constructing various kinds of infrastructure andpublic facilities to relocating land uses and residential areas—need to be decided quickly while keeping a holistic view of all these projects.
The problem is that these various kinds of projects cannot proceed under bureaucratic sectionalism
as before. For example, the town has no authority to
implement projects for the railway, the seawall, theprefectural fishing port, public housing, national and

Fig.9 Appalling damage to Shinminatomachi neighborhood(photographed by the author).

245prefectural roads constituting the town’s main
structure, and the like. Projects led by the town are
also wide-ranging. Thus, it is in fact extremely difficult to pursue these projects while integrating theminto a whole.
The sectional division of labor of the current administration is suitable for dealing with highly functionally differentiated kinds of infrastructure andpublic facilities as separate components and forfunctionally sophisticating and optimizing each ofthem as a separate component. This time, however,when space has to be reorganized both fundamentally and comprehensively, this division of labor of
reducing everything to its components is not only
ineffective but also rather harmful. The success of
this reconstruction plan depends heavily on how togive the plan comprehensiveness and harmony
while mitigating the harmful effects of sectionalism.
(2) No methodology for scaling down urban
space
The second problem originates from the fact thatthe town faces a remarkably declining birthrate andan aging population, which are facilitating a considerable decrease in population. As mentioned earlier,the population of the town is predicted to decrease
to at least 9,850 in 2035, or around 60% of the pop-

The Otsuchi Town

ulation before the disaster (15,239). Not only commerce in the town center but also fishery—originally the chief industry—are in remarkable decline; the town was in fact turning into a dormitory town of neighboring Kamaishi. The basic
strength required for reconstruction is weakening.
Furthermore, as a result of the disaster, there is afear of a considerable population exodus.
The methodology of modern and current urban
planning, however, is essentially based on the tacit
assumption that cities expand and grow: urban areas
grow spatially; the population increases or becomes
concentrated; buildings or facilities become larger;
and the scale of the urban economy increases as awhole. Conventional urban planning has the capability to effectively manage cities under these assumptions. However, in the case of Otsuchi Town,
the situation is opposite in every respect: the urban
area is hollowing; the population is facing a rapid
decrease; and it is difficult to expect new large-scale
multifamily housing, commercial facilities, or factories to be located there in the future.
Under these circumstances, there is no philosophy
or methodology available at present to concentrate
the urban area spatially while maintaining a certain
level of density—that is, scaling down urban spaceand returning unneeded land to nature.

The Revival and Creation
Conference

The Mayor (Yutaka IKARIGAWA)

The Reconstruction Section

The Revival and Creation Council
Academics:
Yu NAKAI (The Univ. of Tokyo / Civil Eng.)
Kenjiro OMURA (Tsukuba Univ. / Urban Planning)

The local Reconstruction Council(whole / each neighborhood)

The City and Regional Development Bureau,Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)(Advice)(Technical support)

Consultants Team:TOKEN C.E.E Consultants Co.,Ltd
U-Planning Office Co.,Ltd
Yasushi Onodera Civil Engineering & Landscape Architecture Design office
EAU Ltd
Akiyoshi NII (Kokushikan Univ. / Civil Engineering And
Landscape Architecture)

Technical Advisers:
Yu NAKAI (The Univ. of Tokyo / Civil Eng.)
Kenjiro OMURA (Tsukuba Univ. / Urban Planning)(coordinate discussions in each neighborhood from a neutral and professional point of view)
Coodinators (Academics):
Machikata : Yu NAKAI (The Univ. of Tokyo / Civil Eng.)
Ando, Komakura, Nobumatsu : Shin OSAKI (The Univ. of Tokyo / Civil Eng.)
Akahama : Aya KUBOTA, Takeshi KUROSE (The Univ. of Tokyo / Urban Design)
Kirikiri, Namiita : Akiyoshi NII (Kokushikan Unov. / Civil Eng.) , Setsuji NAGASE ( The Univ. of Tokyo / Urban Design)
Sakuragicho, Hanawada : Yusuke HARA (The Univ. of Tokyo / Architecture)
Sawayama, Gensui, Oogaguchi : Yoshiyuki KAWAZOE (The Univ. of Tokyo / Architecture)

Fig.10 Planning organization of the basic reconstruction plan.

Npublic facilities for evacuation
evacuation centerschoolzone

central districtcivic center
public housing0

limit the urban
area by green

1000

seawallcovered by greenm

Fig.11 Basic reconstruction plan of Machikata.

(3) Necessity for spatial design using community
power
The third problem is that each affected neighborhood has unique problems, circumstances, historicalbackground, and communal character. Consequently, when pursuing projects, authorities cannot apply
methods indiscriminately according to a manual.
In the Sanriku Region, which includes Otsuchi,
many neighborhoods still remain that have the potential to maintain a firm and conservative community spirit based on locality. Reconstruction shouldbe pursued using this community power. However,there are almost no effective planning methods currently available to crystallize the community power
in a spatial manner. For example, land readjustment
is a versatile method for this reconstruction plan.
However, it divides all the land into individual lots
and places for which the ownership, use, and management all fall under the rights and responsibilities
of individuals and authorities. As a result, used
wrongly, it could dissolve the community power
into individual blocs in this region, where there is
still a noticeable traditional spirit of mutual aid.
To avoid this danger, it is necessary to properly
plan and design public or common spaces. Importing the methodology of development used for
new residential areas on the outskirts of large cities
must be avoided at all costs. Whichever method forurban development is used, precise planning anddesigning of public spaces according to the character of the community is the key to success of theoverall plan.

4. BASIC RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
(1) Planning process and organization
The mayor’s seat was vacant in Otsuchi Town
until the end of August 2011. Although the Reconstruction Preparation Committee was formed in July, substantial planning started after the current
mayor, Yutaka Ikarigawa, was elected in September.
The draft of basic reconstruction patterns as part ofsurveys directly conducted by the City Bureau was
until then examined.
Early in September 2011, the new mayor presented a bottom-up planning process for the basic
plan: each neighborhood was to form a residents’council that would discuss basic principles for thereconstruction plan on the residents’ initiative, referring to the draft of reconstruction patterns madeby the MLIT team, and that would submit suggestions to the town, which would then decide the basic
reconstruction plan within the year. Academics incivil engineering, architecture, and urban planning,
including the author, were to coordinate discussions
among residents in each neighborhood from a neutral and professional point of view (Fig.10).
After discussions were held at residents’ councils
every two weeks for about two months, the draft ofeach neighborhood was prepared at the beginning ofDecember. The town considered these drafts and put
together a basic reconstruction plan, which the extraordinary session of the municipal council passed
at the end of the year.
(2) Outline of the basic reconstruction plan
Although discussions about the plan were conducted separately in each neighborhood, certain
principles underlie the basic draft from each neighborhood.

247

0

300

yellow: surviving house lots
pink: developed house lots for victimsmraise the ground level to the minimum elevation
to escape inundation caused by L2 tsunamis

public center

public park
(buffer zone for tsunami)Nseawall is to be restored to the current heightFig.12 Basic reconstruction plan of Akahama.

First, a decrease in population has to be managed.
To maintain a certain degree of strength or livelinessof the community even if the population decreases,
the hollowing urban area needs to be concentrated
and condensed to maintain or increase the density of
exchange between people even if the population
decreases.
Second, it is important to not destroy the strong
community spirit in each neighborhood, which ischaracteristic of the Sanriku Region. The aim is to
avoid dissolving the connection between people andthe land as much as possible; relocating an entire
neighborhood to higher ground unrelated to theneighborhood is to be avoided on principle. Reconstruction should be pursued while maintaining thestrength of communities and using it as a driving
force.
Given these two principles, the basic reconstruction plan of Otsuchi Town is a vision where houses
and neighborhoods in the inundated area are relocated outside the area so that they connect with existing unaffected neighborhoods at the foot of themountains or mingle with them, while the urban
area remaining in the inundated area—or forced toremain—is compactly concentrated in areas relatively easy to evacuate.
Fig.11 is an image showing the reconstruction of
Machikata9). The plan limits the urban area by locating green areas and parks to constitute a green
belt. It forms a dense town center along the oldhighway at the foot of the mountains, from where itis easy to evacuate. By locating public facilities
properly, the aim is to enhance the U-shaped community structure as a whole. A seawall that is 14.5
m high is planned for Machikata; green areas aroundthe urban area are also intended to mitigate theoverpowering impression of the seawall as much as

possible.
Fig.12 shows the reconstruction plan for Akahama10). The plan is to develop house lots (pink) between surviving lots (yellow); in the coastal area,
the lack of house lots is supplemented by raising the
ground level to the minimum elevation for thewhole neighborhood to escape inundation caused byhuge-scale tsunamis such as the last one on 11th
March 2011. As a consequence, the neighborhood
does not need a huge seawall, so the seawall is to berestored to the current height. This is thought to be
an ideal solution: the community is maintained in
the same place as much as possible, while the relationship between the neighborhood and sea is not
cut off by a huge seawall.

5. EXAMINATION OF DETAILED SPATIAL PLANS(1) Planning organization based on WG in eachneighborhood
In the 2012 fiscal year after the basic reconstruction plan was approved, master plans for land readjustment projects were legally decided, and collections were approved by the minister. Concrete spatial plans were then prepared to implement projects.
Otsuchi Town was joined by a total of 27 technicalsupport staff members from two prefectures and 18
towns whose terms ranged from 3 months to 1 year.
With the department of urban development leading the overall work, each team responsible for administrative work examined detailed plans in multiple neighborhoods simultaneously to realize thebasic plan. For example, the team of land readjustment was in charge of not only the technical aspects248

of land readjustment but also of examining detailed
reconstruction plans for the Machikata andSawayama neighborhoods. Individuals acting as
coordinators when the basic reconstruction plan was
examined joined the team as advisors. Including
consultants in charge of practical work, a working
team, called a neighborhood WG, was formed tomake a detailed plan for each neighborhood.
(2) Example of a detailed plan: Machikata
Mayor Ikarigawa’s election pledge was “meticulously creating a beautiful town with a view of thesea where people are enticed into taking a stroll.”
The objective of the basic reconstruction plan is also
anchored on this pledge. As an example of spatialplans to realize this planning objective, Fig.13
shows the detailed plan for Machikata11).
a) Concentrating the urban area along the oldhighway at the foot of mountains
The urban area of Machikata was historically an
L-shape along the old highway at the foot of themountains. The plan follows this historical community structure as well as the scale and shape of theurban area.
To consider evacuation in an emergency, the plan
concentrates the urban area within 150–200 m fromthe foot of the mountains; the urban area is surrounded by the relocation promotion area, which islike a green belt. The playing field on the outskirtsof the town is moved to the relocation promotion
area, where springs and waterfronts using the manyartesian wells characteristic of Machikata are created here and there; combined with the creation offorests, the area is planned to become a lively recreation area.
In addition, by concentrating the commercial
function around the L-shaped historical axis as
much as possible, the plan aims to form a dense urban area as a center of Machikata.
b) Formation of a road system considering evacuation
For evacuation routes toward mountains, the plan
is to construct roads 12–15 m wide at intervals ofaround 200 m that are connected with the old highway at right angles. With these new roads in place,residents can reach the foot of the mountains within
5 min from anywhere in the urban area. In addition,
the plan specifies some places along the old highway, which are usually where residents stay andwork, as important relay points when they evacuate;
the plan creates public squares there.
c) Network of public spaces considering bothnormal times and emergencies
Many victims who evacuated by car when theearthquake struck got caught in traffic jams andwere drowned by the tsunami. In a small urban areawith mountains closing in, like Machikata, the fundamental rule is to evacuate on foot as much as pos-

Otsuchi RverN

recreational
green space

blue : public facilities
pink : commercial and residential (high density)
gray : residential (low density)

Community Center

Town
Hall

urban public square

Oshachiold highway(historical axis)

smallcommonfor each block
spacesKozuchi Shrine(floodgate)

KozuchiRiver
Otsuchistationblue arrows of broken line :
main
route
for
evacuation

recreational green space(seawall)link common spaces with each otherthrough paths for pedestrians(floodgate)

Otsuchi
Bay
0

300
m

Fig.13 Principle of the spatial plan of Machikata.

sible. In order to be able to evacuate on foot inemergencies, it is necessary for residents to walkduring normal times. Needless to say, improving
walkability is effective not only for emergencies but
also in normal times to maintain the frequency of
exchange between people and a certain degree of
liveliness in the town.
According to the plan, the urban area is subdivided into 150 m × 200 m blocks. Within eachblock, the plan is to create a square as a common
space; the squares are connected with each other bystreets or greenways through the block, with priority
mainly given to pedestrians. This leads to the creation of promenades linking common spaces.
d) Creating spaces using abundant water
Machikata is unique in that there aresprings—artesian wells—everywhere in the urban
area. Representative of these springs is Oshachi,
which is to be restored as a core common space forthe whole town and combined with public facilities
such as a library and community center. In addition,
the plan encourages commercial facilities to be located in this space or concentrates them here withthe aim of establishing a space symbolic of reconstruction.
Also in squares and common spaces createdthroughout the town, the plan uses springs, and not
only Oshachi, as much as possible; road construction using waterways has been examined in an attempt to enhance the identity of Machikata as being
blessed with abundant water.

thor. The author expresses appreciation for thoseconcerned and hopes the reconstruction plan results
in an attractive Otsuchi Town as soon as possible.
REFERENCES
1)

The Broad Examination of Urban Reconstruction Patternsin accordance with the Extent of Damage Caused by theGreat East Japan Earthquake (No.6), The City and Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, March 2012.
2) FromthewebsiteofOtsuchiTown(http://www.town.otsuchi.iwate.jp/).
3) The author processed the topographic map “Otsuchi” on ascale of 1:25,000 published by the Geospatial Information
Authority of Japan in 2001.
4) The Reconstruction Plan of Otsuchi Town after the Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The Basic Plan (Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, p.3, December 2011).
5) From the summary list (1/12) in The Broad Examination of
Urban Reconstruction Patterns in accordance with the Extent of Damage Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake (No.6) (the City and Regional Development Bureauof the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism, March 2012).
6) From Sanhei Dochu Map (kept in the Central Community
Center of Morioka City).
7) The topographic map “Otsuchi” on a scale of 1:50,000
published by the Land Survey Department in 1923 (left);the topographic map “Otsuchi” on a scale of 1:25,000 published by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan in2001 (right).
8) Population Projections by Municipality in Japan (The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research,
projections in December 2008).
9) The Reconstruction Plan of Otsuchi Town after the Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The Basic Plan (Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, p.61, December 2011).
10) The Reconstruction Plan of Otsuchi Town after the Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The Basic Plan (Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, p.66, December 2011).
11) This map was handed out to residents at the meeting of the
Local Reconstruction Council of Machikata Neighborhood
held on June 30, 2012. This map was made by the authorand Hideya Fukushima.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: On the initiative of thelocal government, discussions on the reconstruction
plan for Otsuchi Town involved the City Bureau of
the MLIT, the Reconstruction Agency, Iwate Prefecture, the Urban Renaissance Agency, TOKEN
C.E.E. Consultants—which is in charge of practical
work—and academics, including the author. This
paper reports the result of those discussions from theauthor’s point of view; all the responsibilities concerning the contents of the paper lies with the au-(Received November 12, 2012)250