Firstly I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone in Ogatsu who looked after me, especially Midori. お世話になりました.

Route 45 is my least favourite kind of road. Short sharp ascents followed by short sharp descents. However, today the road was irrelevant. I cycled up the coast for 100km and with every descent into a new valley came sights of total destruction. Standing in the middle of what was once Minamisanriku town and seeing nothing but foundations, weeds and a couple of empty concrete shells was difficult to say the least. The coastline is beautiful but I couldn’t look at the sea without feeling as though it was sinister in someway. I don’t know how locals could see it differently, perhaps that is why so many have moved away. Not through fear but through anger and betrayal. Here are some photos from today:
Ogatsu Bay

A shrine without a shrine

An empty shell

A temporary shopping center

Temporary homes in a school car park