Rising from the ashes after 311: A hidden bathhouse at Onagawa Station, adorned with hand-painted tiles by local residents

▲ Onagawa Station. (Photo / fromShigeru Ban Architects’ official website)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

The community station, damaged by the 311 earthquake in Japan, has finally risen again. Located at Onagawa Station in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, the station was reopened on March 21 after four years of restoration and planning by architects. The brand-new bathhouse inside the station features interior decorations hand-painted by local residents who stayed behind, filled with the emotions of local life and resilience.


▲ Daytime exterior view of the station. (Photo / fromShigeru Ban Architects’ official website)

Onagawa Station, which was damaged by the 311 earthquake four years ago, was redesigned by Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Its distinctive feature is the mesh ceiling, and it officially reopened on March 21, creating new value through reconstruction. In addition to the station building itself, the public bathhouse inside has also been reopened. With ample natural light introduced, the tiles and hand-painted Mount Fuji designs inside the bathhouse were all completed by locals. Through the reshaping of the architecture, the emotions of the local people are captured, allowing this town, which had lost its connections to the outside world due to the earthquake, to face the world with a new perspective.


▲ %Interior of the bathhouse. (Photo / from