Shiogama, a city that has grown alongside the sea, is located in northern Japan (Tohoku) in the Miyagi prefecture. Shiogama, roughly in the middle of the prefecture, sits between the cosmopolitan city of Sendai and Matsushima Bay, one of the three most famed views in Japan. Shiogama has prospered as the home of the Tohoku area’s Shiogama Shrine and as a harbor city. Shiogama is recognized as the largest unloading point for fresh tuna in Japan, as well as a city with abundant fresh seafood. The City has the most sushi restaurants per square kilometer in Japan. The fisheries industry is strong and Shiogama leads Japan in the production of kamaboko, or kneaded fish cakes, as well as other processed fish products. Shiogama is one of the doorways to tourism in the famed Matsuhima Bay. In the “Narrow Roads to the Deep North", the poet, Matsuo Basho, describes traveling from Shiogama to Matsushima by boat. What is not so well known, however, is the fact that over half of the“808 Matsushima Islands" are actually in Shiogama.