Japan fell silent yesterday to honour the 19,000 people killed a year ago in a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in a generation.
Many difficulties lie ahead in the reconstruction of the disaster-affected areas
Tearful families gathered in towns and villages across the country’s shattered northeast to remember those they lost as the towering waves smashed ashore.
At 2.46 p.m. (0546 GMT) the nation paused for a minute’s silence to mark the moment nature’s fury was visited on Japan, when the 9.0-magnitude quake set off a devastating chain of events.
At a national ceremony of remembrance in Tokyo silent prayers were led by Japan’s Prime Minister and Emperor Akihito, who said the country would “never forget” its worst post-war calamity.
“Many difficulties lie ahead in the reconstruction of the disaster-affected areas,” he said, urging citizens to “join their hearts with the people affected by the disasters and continue to help them to improve their lives”.
A single pillar symbolising the souls of those who died stood in the middle of the stage, decorated with white chrysanthemums and lilies.
Anti-nuclear demonstrations were held across the northeast region where an estimated 160,000 people were forced to evacuate after the monster waves triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
One year on, more than 340,000 people are still living in temporary housing – most lost their homes when a wall of black water crushed whole communities.
Others were forced to flee homes in the shadow of Fukushima as it began venting toxic radiation over homes and farmland when its cooling systems were knocked out, unleashing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Many parts of a 20-kilometre exclusion zone imposed around the Fukushima plant are likely to remain uninhabitable for years, perhaps decades.
In Okuma, home to the crippled plant, displaced residents wore anti-radiation suits, gloves and masks on a rare visit to their contaminated home town, where they remembered those they had lost.
An elderly woman, whose grandchild is still listed as missing, wept as she laid flowers at a makeshift altar.
“I want my grandchild to be found,” she told reporters.
In the nearby city of Koriyama, around 16,000 people rallied to demand an end to nuclear power in Japan. “Fukushima is being forgotten day by day,” said one protester, Yumiko Ono, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Tokyo.
“If we don’t raise our voices right now, another accident could happen. We want to tell the world that the crisis and the hardship is still going on.”
As darkness fell, candlelight ceremonies were held across the country to wrap up the day of commemoration. In Fukushima city, more than 300 people gathered for Candle Night in front of local government offices.
The battle for control of three runaway reactors was declared won in December when the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) announced they were in “a state of cold shutdown”.
Yesterday, Tepco President Toshio Nishizawa offered the latest in a line of apologies from a company that has become a byword for mistrust in Japan.
“We sincerely apologise to people in the neighbouring area, in Fukushima and in greater society for... the accident,” he said.
In Ishinomaki, home to a fifth of those who died in the disaster, tsunami warning sirens wailed to mark the moment the quake hit, sending huge waves into the city where they claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 people.