As Japan’s Wajima city digs out from quake, hopes fade for tourism recovery
WAJIMA, Japan — Hotel chef Makoto Wakabayashi was among those in Wajima hoping for a banner year as visitors returned to the scenic, seaside town that weathered more than two years of pandemic gloom.
Those dreams came apart in minutes of violent shaking on New Year’s Day, when the strongest earthquake to strike Japan in 13 years and multiple aftershocks devastated the city and claimed dozens of lives.
Days later, buckled roads continue to hamper the influx of aid, while rescuers search for survivors among the flattened structures. Among the badly damaged buildings is Mr. Wakabayashi’s employer, the seaside Hotel Koshuen.
The total toll on lives and industry in the region from the 7.6 magnitude quake is far from known. But it is already clear that Wajima — renowned for its fisheries, lacquerware, and markets — faces a long road to recovery from not just the quake but a massive fire in a major tourist center.
Tourism was just making a comeback from the COVID-19 crisis, Mr. Wakabayashi said, but he worries this quake may be a knockout blow.
“It’s absolutely bad,” Mr. Wakabayashi, 62, told Reuters at a community center now serving as an evacuation center.
He was among some 600 people of all ages packed into the building’s three floors, where many slept on tatami mats and plastic sheets.
Nearby was the nine-story Hotel Koshuen, one of the biggest accommodation centers in the city and boasting hot spring baths with views of the ocean. The upper floors were the most damaged as the force of the quake moved up the building, he said.
“Parts of walls came off and ceilings came down,” Mr. Wakabayashi said. “I believe it will take half a year to a year to fully refurbish all the guest rooms.”