Yale Environment 360: In the years leading up to the massive tsunami of March 11, 2011, it seemed that Japans coastal ecosystems could hardly decline in health any further. Decades of coastal engineering had divided land from ocean, turned quaint seaside towns grey with concrete, and pushed once-familiar species like loggerhead sea turtles and common orient clams towards extinction. Nearly half of the island nations perimeter was modified in some way; cliffs comprised most of what remained untouched. Even within the...