The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, Miyagi. However, following the opening of the Ueno–Tokyo Line, Jōban Line train services originate at or ; likewise, Jōban Line trains continue past Iwanuma onto the Tōhoku Main Line tracks to . The line approximately parallels the Pacific coasts of Chiba, Ibaraki, and Fukushima Prefectures. The name "Jōban" is derived from the names of the former provinces of Hitachi (), and Iwaki (), which are connected by the line to reach Tokyo. The section of the Jōban Line between and , which extends through the exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, closed in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. After some major repairs, the section reopened on 14 March 2020 after 9 years without service. History The Mito Railway opened the line in sections between 1889 and 1905. The dates of the individual section openings are given below. After the line was nationalised in 1906, a program of double-tracking commenced in 1910, with the section between Nippori and Yotsukura completed in 1925. The Hirono - Kido and Ono - Futaba sections were double-tracked in 1976. The first section electrified was Nippori - Matsudo (at 1,500 V DC) in 1936, and extended to Toride in 1949. The Toride - Kusano section was electrified at 20 kV AC between 1961 and 1963, and extended to Iwanuma in 1967. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused severe disruption to the line, with services to Iwaki ( from Nippori) re-established by 17 April, to Yotsukura (a further ) by 14 May, and to Hirono (another ) by 10 October 2011. Services on the Hirono - Tatsuta section returned on 1 June 2014. At the northern end, services on the isolated Haranomachi - Soma section were restored on 21 December 2011, with services from Iwanuma to Hamayoshida () restored on 16 March 2013. Services resumed on the Haranomachi - Odaka section on 12 July 2016 and the Hamayoshida - Soma section was rebuilt at a higher, tsunami-proof level, and reopened on 10 December 2016, re-establishing the connection to Sendai for stations north of Odaka. The line fully reopened on 14 March 2020. Chronology 16 January 1889: Mito Railway (Mito