The Sanriku Coast of Iwate Prefecture is Japan's most dramatic ria coastline — 200km of jagged inlets, fishing villages, and sheer Pacific cliffs shaped by millennia of violent seas. Route 45 runs north from Kamaishi through Miyako, past the Jodogahama white-rock coves and the Kitayamazaki sea-cliff walls, to the amber-fossil city of Kuji. The 2011 tsunami reshaped this coast profoundly; the memorial sites add a sobering dimension to an already powerful ride.
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