Hamare-Utatsu Shopping Area

Hamare-Utatsu Shopping Area opened in 2017 as a successor to the Isatomae Fukko Shopping Street in the Utatsu district of Minamisanriku. Architect Kengo Kuma designed the permanent shopping village on a raised hill approximately 7 meters above sea level. The name “Hamare” is derived from a word in the local dialect for “Come and join us! Let’s be friends!” It is also a combination of the word “hama,” which means “beach”—of which there are many in Utatsu—and “mare,” which means “sea” in Italian. In order to recreate the liveliness of the old shopping street, the facility features an overhanging roof made of Minamisanriku cedar that creates an open-air veranda-like atmosphere, where visitors can enjoy the warmth of the wood and a view of the sea. Displayed at the adjacent Kamome-kan is a postbox from Utatsu that drifted ashore on Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture a year and nine months after it was washed away from Utatsu by the tsunami. The facility has restaurants, cafés, and a wide range of shops selling sweets, souvenirs, fish, vegetables, clothing, liquor, and electronics, making it a hub for tourism and the local community.