is a city

Cities of Japan

||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...

 located in Miyagi Prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.
It was created on April 1, 2005, when the towns of Naruse and Yamoto, both formally of Monou District

Monou District, Miyagi

Monou was a district located in Miyagi, Japan.As of 2005, this district no longer exists.* On April 1, 2005 the towns of Yamoto and Naruse merged to form the city of Higashimatsushima....

, merged to form the new city.
As of 2010, the city had an estimated population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of 42,762 and a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 420 persons per km². The total area is 101.86 km².
The Satohama shell mound

Satohama shell mound

The is a late Jōmon shell mound in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. 293 items of bone, 91 of shell, 168 of stone, and 38 of earthenware were found during excavations. These were designated an Important Cultural Property in 2000. Finds from the site are exhibited at the Historical...

 and museum is in the city.

2011 earthquake disaster

On 11 March 2011 the town was hit by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

 resulting in at least 1,039 deaths. During the tsunami, a 45 metre ship, the Chōkai Maru, was hurled over a pier and left aground in the town. At the time of the disaster, Higashimatsushima had still not fully recovered from a previous major earthquake in 2003

2003 Hokkaido earthquake

The 2003 Hokkaidō earthquake occurred on September 25, 2003 in Hokkaidō, Japan. It measured 8.3 on the Moment magnitude scale and caused extensive damage, destroying roads all around Hokkaidō, and caused several power outages and further damaging landslides. A number of people were injured...

. About 63% of the town was inundated by the tsunami.

Train stations

• Senseki Line
  Senseki Line
  The is a rail line in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Part of the East Japan Railway Company system, it runs from Aoba-dōri Station in Sendai to Ishinomaki Station in Ishinomaki, and provides access to the central coast areas of Miyagi Prefecture, significantly the Matsushima area...
  
  : Rikuzen-Ōtsuka
  Rikuzen-Otsuka Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-History:*April 10, 1928: Station begins operation as Ōtsuka Station.*December 1, 1931: Station is moved to its present location....
  
   - Tōna
  Tona Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Line:*JR East**Senseki LineAs of September 1, 2011, the operation of the Senseki Line between Takagimachi Station and Yamoto Station is suspended due to the damage from the tsunami on March 11, 2011...
  
   - Nobiru
  Nobiru Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Line:*JR East**Senseki LineAs of September 1, 2011, the operation of the Senseki Line between Takagimachi Station and Yamoto Station is suspended due to the damage from the tsunami on March 11, 2011...
  
   - Rikuzen-Ono
  Rikuzen-Ono Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Adjacent stations:...
  
   - Kazuma
  Kazuma Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Surrounding area:The surrounding area is all farmland with the exception of Makabe hospital which was the original reason the station was opened...
  
   - Yamoto
  Yamoto Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Adjacent stations:...
  
   - Higashi-Yamoto
  Higashi-Yamoto Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-History:*March 31, 1987: Station begins operation. This was the last day of operation of Japanese National Railways before the splitup, and Higashi-Yamoto Station was the only new station brought into service on that...
  
   - Rikuzen-Akai
  Rikuzen-Akai Station
  is a JR East railway station located in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan.-Adjacent stations:...
  
  

Major roads

• Sanriku Expressway (Naruse-Okumatsushima, Yamoto, and Ishinomaki interchanges)
• Route 45