To say Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, has seen better days would be an incredible understatement.

When it rains, water enters the building through its broken windows and bats have taken up residence in the classrooms.

No one is allowed to enter the derelict school building, where its severed steel columns and ceilings that had been lifted by water instantly convey the raw power of the deadly tsunami that slammed into it more than a decade ago.

But visitors still flock to the site to learn about the local history of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, which took lives of 84 students and teachers at this school.

The building was opened to the public as a memorial site in July 2021, after much controversy over whether it should have been preserved in the first place.

Opinions were divided, with some relatives of the victims and other residents wishing to never see the ruined building again.

Twelve years on since the disaster, coastal areas like this one are still recovering. But many cash-strapped local communities that have preserved some of the wreckage to convey the story of the devastation are grappling with that tough question once again: should it stay or should it go?

The preserved buildings have deteriorated over time, exposed to the harsh wind and rain. With the clock ticking down on their limited lifespans, local governments face hefty costs for the maintenance and management of the eerie landmarks.

The Ishinomaki city government decided to keep the building in its current haunting state without significantly repairing or modifying it. But at the request of a heritage-preservation organization, the municipality will earmark 10 million yen ($73,200) for fiscal 2023 to preserve it from further deterioration, otherwise it would eventually fall into complete ruin.

COSTS OFTEN UNCLEAR

The pipes and steel frames hanging from the ceiling of Ukedo Elementary School sway in the wind, and many have fallen to the floor since the site was opened to the public.

This school is located in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, about 300 meters from the sea. But repairing it will change the look of the structure from the state it was found in.

“The building can only be fitted with a concrete frame,” a town official said. “If that happens, can it be said that the remains have any value?”

A large earthquake with a seismic intensity of upper 6 on Japan’s maximum scale of 7 hit the Tohoku region a year ago, further rattling these dilapidated structures.

In a memorial museum in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, which features what was once Kesennuma Koyo High School, the footbridge connecting the buildings has shifted.

“It is uncertain how much repair work needs to be done,” a city official said. “We can’t estimate the full scale of future repairs.”

And preserving visitable remains is difficult.

Facilities with resident staff require annual expenditures from 20 million to several tens of million yen. Even facilities that charge admission fees continue to incur costs in the range of tens of millions of yen.

Some local governments, like Kesennuma city and Miyako city in Iwate Prefecture which preserves the remains of Taro Kanko Hotel, make use of the hometown tax program, which lets taxpayers donate to municipalities of their choice in return for tax deductions and sometimes gifts.

But small towns are struggling with the expenses of maintaining disaster-struck buildings.

“(Preserving the remains) leads to disaster-prevention education, and some expenses are inevitable. But it’s difficult for small towns to bear the costs,” said a town official of Yamamoto in Miyagi Prefecture.

LIFESPANS UNKNOWN

After the 2011 tsunami, many of the ruined buildings were destined to disappear. Cities were forced to demolish them because they became obstacles to local development.

But some people insist they must be preserved to pass down a warning to future generations.

In November 2013, the Reconstruction Agency announced its policy for using national funds to help cover initial maintenance costs. It said it will finance the preservation of one ruined building per municipality. Local governments then decided which wrecked facilities to preserve.

“At that time, the important thing was how to preserve the building remains, and there was a lack of discussion about how long they should be preserved in the future,” Arata Hirakawa, a professor emeritus at Tohoku University said.

He was on a panel of experts studying the preservation of disaster ruins with the Ishinomaki city government and the Miyagi prefectural government.

He said the big concern was that “local governments would bear a heavier burden” by continuing to preserve the remains.

INFLUENCED BY A-BOMB DOME

The famous Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, which survived the August 1945 nuclear attack, has a significant influence on the discussions surrounding the preservation of remains in the disaster-hit areas of the Tohoku region.

It took years of discussions before Hiroshima city decided to preserve the site. The captivating unearthly structure was eventually designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site and has become a symbol of peace in the minds of those who visit it.

According to the Hiroshima city government, preservation work has been carried out four times by reinforcing its steel structure through donations and other funds.

In 1995, half a century after the end of World War II, the building ruins became a national historic site under the Cultural Assets Preservation Law.

Some argue the remains of the 2011 disaster should be designated as important cultural properties like the Atomic Bomb Dome and that the government should support their maintenance and management.

For instance, in 2014, the Science Council of Japan proposed that the government “consider a permanent preservation policy of (the remains) by designating them as cultural properties.”

But usually, buildings are not designated as cultural properties until they are more than 50 years old. There are also technical challenges in their preservation.

Eiichi Nagashima, former head of the cultural property division in the Sendai city government, suggested it should be made easier to designate something as a cultural property.

“It will be difficult to pass down the building remains, since they will deteriorate and fewer people will visit.”

But some remains have been recognized as such after a short time.

The Nojima Fault in Hyogo Prefecture caused by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake was designated as a natural monument just three years later.

The Otsuchi town government in Iwate Prefecture demolished the remains of its former town hall in 2019. The building was destroyed by tsunami and the officials who were at the facility at the time, including the mayor, perished.

Mio Kamitani, 47, the head of a group that tells the story of the disaster to students who visit the site, said the preserved ruins are helpful tools for illustrating the gravity of the tsunami disaster.

“The buildings help people imagine what it would be like if it happened to them,” she said.

She often asks visitors, “What will you do?”

(This article was written by Yusuke Hoshino and Hideaki Ishibashi, senior staff writer.)