diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index ccfc69d7044a..59b8502d5b22 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -912,6 +912,7 @@ long initialize(final CancelableProgressable reporter) throws IOException {
     }
 
     MonitoredTask status = TaskMonitor.get().createStatus("Initializing region " + this);
+    status.enableStatusJournal(true);
     long nextSeqId = -1;
     try {
       nextSeqId = initializeRegionInternals(reporter, status);
@@ -939,6 +940,10 @@ long initialize(final CancelableProgressable reporter) throws IOException {
         status.abort("Exception during region " + getRegionInfo().getRegionNameAsString() +
           " initialization.");
       }
+      if (LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
+        LOG.debug("Region open journal:\n" + status.prettyPrintJournal());
+      }
+      status.cleanup();
     }
   }
 
@@ -1545,7 +1550,7 @@ public Map<byte[], List<HStoreFile>> close(boolean abort) throws IOException {
     MonitoredTask status = TaskMonitor.get().createStatus(
         "Closing region " + this.getRegionInfo().getEncodedName() +
         (abort ? " due to abort" : ""));
-    status.enableStatusJournal(false);
+    status.enableStatusJournal(true);
     status.setStatus("Waiting for close lock");
     try {
       synchronized (closeLock) {