Before and after: One year after the Japan tsunami

(Top) A cherry blossom tree stands amid tsunami devastation in the city of Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture on April 20, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 16, 2012.  (Yasuyoski Chiba (top), Toru Yamanak (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Left) People walk on a road covered with vehicles and debris in a tsunami hit area of Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011. (Right) The same area on January 12, 2012.  (Kazuhiro Nagi (left), Toru Yamanak (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Local residents walk in a flooded street in a tsunami hit area of Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 12, 2012.  (Kazuhiro Nogi (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A catamaran sightseeing boat, washed ashore by the tsunami, sits atop a two-story tourist home in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture on April 16, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 16, 2012.  (Yasuyoshi Chiba (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Yuko Sugimoto, wrapped with a blanket, stands in front of debris looking for her son in the tsunami-hit town of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture on March 13, 2011. (Bottom) Sugimoto stands with her five-year-old son Raito at the same place on January 27, 2012.  (Yomiuri Shimbnun (top), Toru Yamnaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 15, 2012.  (Nicolas Asfouri (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) People walk on a bridge upon which a boat lies washed up by the tsunami in Hishonomaki, Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 13, 2012.  (Philippe Lopez (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) People evacuate down a road flooded by the tsunami in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 12, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 13, 2012.  (JIJI Press (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Residents cross a bridge covered with debris in the tsunami hit area of the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 13, 2012.  (Kim Jae-Hwan (top), Toru Yamanak (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

People walk on train tracks littered with cars in Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Below is the same area on January 12, 2012.  (Toru Yamanka, AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A ship called Asia Sympathy, run aground by the March 11 tsunami in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, encroaches on a neighborhood on March 18, 2011. (Bottom) The neighborhood is back to normal on January 16, 2012.  (Rosland Rahman (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A fishing boat lies in the tsunami rubble in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture on March 31, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 16, 2012, shows it has been cleared of the debris.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 15, 2012.  (Nicolas Asfouri (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The tsunami hit area of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) The same scene as it appears on January 15, 2012.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanaka, AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A catamaran sightseeing boat, washed ashore by the tsunami, sits atop a two-story tourist home in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture on April 16, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 16, 2012.  (Yasuyoshi Chiba (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Debris and damage goes for miles in the tsunami hit area of Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture on March 18, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 14, 2012.  (Fred Dufour (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The view of the tsunami hit area of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) The scene as it appears on January 15, 2012.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A tsunami hit street in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) The same scene as it appears on January 15, 2012.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The tsunami hit area of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) The same scene as it appears on January 15, 2012.  (Nicholas Kamm (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The view of a tsunami hit street in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) A view from the area on January 15, 2012.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) The tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 15, 2012.  (Nicholas Asfouri (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A 10-meter-high pine tree in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, a survivor of the tsunami, is seen on March 29, 2011. (Bottom) The same tree as it appears on January 15, 2012.  (Toshifumi Kitamura (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Residents walk on roads covered with mud and debris in the tsunami hit area of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, on March 14, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 13, 2012.  (Toru Yamanaka, AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Tsunami debris covers a large area of Natori, near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 12, 2012.  (Mike Clarke (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Left) Cars are piled up in front of the airport control tower in Sendai on March 14, after a tsunami hit the region on March 11, 2011. (Right) The same area on January 12, 2012.  (Philippe Lopez (left), Toru Yamanaka (right), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Local residents looks at a tsunami hit area of Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture on March 12, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 11, 2012.  (Kazuhiro Nogi (top), Toru Yamanaka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Left) A vehicle sits on a three-story building in a tsunami hit area of the town of Minamisanriku, in Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011. (Right) The same area on January 14, 2012.  (JIJI Press (left), Toru Yamanaka (right), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) Damage caused by the tsunami is seen from a hill overlooking the city of Kesennuma on March 16, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on Janury 14, 2012.  (Philippe Lopez (top), Toru Yamankak (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)

(Top) A rescue worker walks through rubble in the tsunami hit area of Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture on March 18, 2011. (Bottom) The same area on January 14, 2012.  (Mike Clarke (top), Toru Yamanka (bottom), AFP/Getty Images)