This study aims to discuss the spatial issues of disaster recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Focused on tsunami-damaged regions, this study examines how major regional development issues have been dealt with. In the case study areas, the following ideal spatial methodologies have been suggested for tsunami recovery: building a compact city, intensifying fishing villages, and making a sustainable city. However, as the spatial restructuring have encountered practical barriers, reconstruction has been delayed, and the regional decline have been accelerating. To prevent regional decline which is inevitable after a disaster, this paper suggests that the area of disaster studies should be expanded to long-term recovery process beyond emergency response.