Chubu

Chubu's coastline spans Ise Bay — the enclosed triangular bay south of Nagoya — and the open Pacific Enshu coast from Hamamatsu east toward the Izu Peninsula. Ise Bay has semidiurnal spring tides of 2.0–2.5 m and supports the country's most productive asari clam tidal-flat fishery. The bay head near Ise is the site of Japan's most sacred Shinto shrine complex, the Jingū, where ama women divers have harvested abalone and shellfish for over a millennium. The Pacific Enshu coast has spring ranges around 1.5 m and consistent south-southwest swell. Mikimoto Kōkichi cultivated the world's first commercial pearl in Ise Bay in 1893; the pearl culture industry that grew from that discovery still operates in Mikawa Bay and Ise-Shima. The ama diving tradition — women free-diving to 10 m for shellfish without breathing apparatus — has been designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.