Japan's Tsunami-Ravaged Fishing Communities Fight Back

The tsunami wiped Rikuzentakata off the map, killing more than 2,000 of its 23,000 residents and annihilating almost every building in sight.
Image taken in Ofunato, Japan, where the port’s tugboat still sits in someone’s backyard about a kilometer from the water, July 2011

The massive tsunami that struck Japan in March tore through the remote fishing towns on the northern Pacific coast, destroying virtually everything in its path. Doubts remain over whether the communities will be able to rebuild along this rocky shoreline. Nearly five months on, though, there are signs of economic life amid the piles of wreckage.