Japan’s tourism boom shows no sign of slowing. In 2025, the country set a new record welcoming more than 40 million international visitors for the first time, and has already seen further year on year growth in early 2026. While Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka remain the best-known destinations, other cities are working to put their place on the map. Among them is our city of Sendai, which is seeking to grow its international profile while making sure tourism also helps to strengthen the city’s resilience and delivers lasting benefits for local people.
Toward Tohoku’s recovery and sustainable growth through tourism
For Sendai, tourism is not just about attracting visitors. It is part of a broader effort to support recovery, revitalise the regional economy and prepare for the future. As the central city of the Tohoku region, Sendai is well placed to lead this effort, but it also faces familiar challenges: population decline, an ageing society, the outflow of talent to Tokyo and pressure on local transport and services.
These pressures were compounded by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake – the strongest ever recorded in Japan – triggered a tsunami that rose above 7 metres in places and caused extensive damage in Sendai and across the wider region.
Since then, tourism has become an important part of the city’s recovery strategy. Its value lies not only in its potential to attract visitors, but also support activity across accommodation, food services, retail, transport, culture and events. In Sendai, the challenge has been to turn that potential into sustainable growth while building a city that is more resilient, inclusive and connected to the world.
Building on history
Sendai has strong cultural and historical assets. More than 400 years ago, the samurai warlord Date Masamune built his castle on Aobayama. Today, the area is the focus of new efforts to bring Sendai’s history and culture to life.
One important initiative is the planned reconstruction of the Ōtemon Gate of Sendai Castle. At around 12.5 metres tall, it was once one of the largest castle gates in Japan. Destroyed in an air raid in 1945, it is due to be reconstructed by 2036, marking 400 years since the death of Date Masamune. Using traditional construction and design techniques, the project aims to create a landmark for both domestic and international visitors.
Capitalising on culture
Sendai is also building on its identity as a cultural city. It is already well known as the “City of Music” thanks to the Sendai International Music Competition, which attracts young musicians from around the world. To build on this reputation, the city is developing a new cultural complex that will combine a music hall with a central disaster memorial facility. Designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, who also directed venue design for Expo 2025 Osaka, the complex is intended to reflect Sendai’s identity as both an environmentally friendly and disaster-resilient city.
The city is also turning popular culture into a tourism asset. Sendai is widely known as one of the settings of Haikyu!!, the manga about high school volleyball. The city has appointed the main characters as “Sendai Tourism Ambassadors” and installed commemorative monuments featuring newly drawn illustrations by the author at sites including gymnasiums and museums. These have become popular photo spots for fans from Japan and abroad.
Another example is Pokémon GO Fest 2024: Sendai. Held in only three cities worldwide – alongside New York and Madrid – the event attracted around 380 000 participants. Through collaboration with local shopping arcades, it generated an estimated 7.4 billion yen in revenue, benefiting restaurants, accommodation providers and other local businesses. Building on the experience gained from hosting the event, Sendai now aims to develop new tourism experiences that blend the virtual and real worlds, helping to establish the city as a year-round hub for location-based games.
Building a more resilient and inclusive visitor economy
The Sendai Tourism Strategy 2027 is also shaped by the lessons of 2011. Recovery has not been only about rebuilding what was lost but also creating a city that is safer and better prepared for the future. Following the earthquake, Sendai hosted the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, where the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 was adopted. As the city associated with this framework, Sendai has incorporated the principles of disaster risk reduction into its planning and is working to build a safer urban environment.
The tourism strategy has been developed with strong input from local stakeholders, including a council of business and accommodation industry representatives that reviews measures and evaluates their effectiveness. This matters because tourism will only succeed in the long term if it works for residents and local firms.
A tourist destination for all
Sendai and the wider Tohoku region have much to offer, from striking natural landscapes and mineral-rich hot springs to festivals, history and a rich cultural heritage. But the city’s story is about more than promoting attractions. It is about how tourism can support recovery, resilience and renewal in a place facing demographic change and the long shadow of disaster.
That ambition lies behind our effort to present Sendai and Tohoku to the world as “Another JAPAN – SENDAI, TOHOKU” – a destination offering experiences distinct from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. For policymakers elsewhere, the lesson is equally important. Tourism can be more than a source of visitor spending. If it is rooted in local assets, shaped by local needs and linked to wider goals, it can help cities become stronger, more inclusive and better prepared for the future.
To read more OECD work on this topic, check-out OECD Tourism Trends
and Policies 2024.
Kazuko Kohri has been Mayor of Sendai since 2017. Having devoted herself to the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) reconstruction since her time in the House of Representatives, she is aiming for Sendai to serve as a world model as a “resilient city which leaves no one behind.”
She won a seat as a member of the house of representatives four terms in a row, and held senior positions for 12 years from 2005 to 2017 such as the Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister in charge of Reconstruction in response to GEJE.
She has been building up a record of achievements including a test flight of the world’s first fully autonomous drones for tsunami evacuation alerts, and the Midterm Review of “Sendai Framework 2015-2030” which was implemented for the first time at the local level, rather than by the national government.