Tohoku

Tohoku is the northeast region of Honshu, Japan's main island — six prefectures running from Fukushima to Aomori where the Pacific coast faces open ocean and the mountains drop hard to the sea. The tidal regime is semidiurnal and mesotidal: two highs and two lows each day, with a mean range of roughly 1.3 metres along most of the Pacific coast, rising toward 1.5 to 2.0 metres in the enclosed waters of Mutsu Bay in the far north. That range is enough to shift the character of a beach or harbour inlet substantially through the day, but not so large that it dominates planning the way a macrotidal coast does. Matsushima Bay, 20 kilometres northeast of Sendai, holds 260 pine-covered islands — one of the canonical 'three views of Japan' (Nihon Sankei, designated by the Edo-era scholar Hayashi Shunsai). The tidal scene shifts noticeably with the water level: at high water, smaller islands become rocks barely above the surface; at low water, inter-island sand and rock channels open. Viewing the bay at different states of tide is one of the things that makes repeat visits worthwhile. Farther south, Ishinomaki Bay is the centre of Japan's oyster and scallop aquaculture — flat-bottomed aquaculture boats and floating raft systems mark the bay at every state of tide. Ishinomaki rebuilt its waterfront significantly in the years following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the rebuilt town carries a culture of marine industry, fisheries, and — distinctively — manga heritage: the Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum and the works of Stone Taro (Shotaro Ishinomori) give the town a second cultural identity. At the northern tip, Aomori faces Mutsu Bay — a deep, nearly enclosed bay that amplifies tidal range relative to the open Pacific coast. The Nebuta Festival (early August) draws tens of thousands to the city; the bay fishing industry produces significant volumes of hotate (scallop) and other shellfish. Tide predictions on pages in this region come from Open-Meteo Marine (±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m) cross-referenced with Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reference data. For authoritative tide tables and, crucially, the nationwide tsunami warning system, consult jma.go.jp.