Tsunami anniversary: Live Report

0415 GMT: It is not just in Japan that ceremonies are taking place. As far away as Brazil, people have been praying for the dead.

0410 GMT: In the city of Koriyama, the current radiation reading of 0.472 microsieverts - higher than normal but within the government's acceptable safety limits - is displayed on an electronic sign in a small park on the main street, our photographer there, Toru Yamanaka, tells me.

0354 GMT: Many of those caught up in the tsunami have been sharing their feelings about the catastrophe - often still raw and enduringly painful. Setsuko Kimura, 66, a barber whose house was in Namie just 10 kilometres (six miles) away from the Fukushima plant, says he is still haunted by nightmares.

"I have often have a dreadful dream in which I'm wandering but with nowhere to go," says Kimura, who is now living in temporary housing in Nihonmatsu.

He says his feelings towards TEPCO, the company that managed the Fukushima nuclear plant and is accused of grossly mismanaging the disaster, are complicated because his grandson works for them.

"Even though he did not do anything wrong, I don?t want to tell my neighbours. He does not talk about TEPCO at home. I feel sorry for him."

0348 GMT: More from our correspondent in Fukushima City, who spoke to Shigeko Sasaki, a dance instructor in her 60s whose house in Namie was swept away by the tsunami.

She now lives in Tokyo, but has brought her dancers to Fukushima to take part in a memorial event.

"It was a day of horror. I lost many friends. Sometimes I cannot stop crying. But today, we want to perform a great dance as a requiem."

0341 GMT: Hitomi Oikawa, a 37-year-old woman who lost her father in the catastrophe, said she would be praying that she can one day overcome the trauma of the disaster.

?It?s been a year since my father died. I am going to pray that I can get over my grief and that my children can feel better,? she told our video correspondent Antoine Bouthier in Ishinomaki.

0329 GMT: More from that protest in a baseball stadium in Koriyama, where people are holding banners saying "Anger, Fukushima" and "We don't need nuclear plants."

About 30 monks are beating drums and offering prayers. Dozens of uniformed police officers are standing by, and 10 buses for riot police are parked nearby.

0321 GMT: One of our correspondents is at an anti-nuclear protest at a baseball stadium in the city of Koriyama.

Hitoshi Furukori, a 28-year-old Fukushima college student, told our correspondent: "We have to close all the nuclear plants. What we learnt this year is nuclear power is really dangerous. I came here because I want to get rid of all nuclear plants from the world. We want to send that message to the world."

Another protester, Yumiko Ono, a 34-year-old graphic designer, said: "Usually, we see anti-nuclear protests in Tokyo, but I came here today to join and encourage our friends in Fukushima. Fukushima is being forgotten day by day. We want to tell the world that the crisis and the hardship is still going on."

0316 GMT: Toshifumi Kitamura, one of our photographers, reports that snow flurries are falling in the badly-hit coastal city of Rikuzentakata.

He says ice carvings depicting a flying swan, a dolphin, a dragon and a person sit on the spot that was once the city's centre.

A plaque on one of the sculptures reads: "We will not forget that day."

0307 GMT: A woman from Kesennuma tells national broadcaster NHK that she has been astonished by how quickly interest in the disaster appears to have faded in the national consciousness.

"We are not asking for handouts. We just want people to remember that we are still here, living in pain."

0258 GMT: Masaru Aihara, a 65-year-old man from Hachinohe, Aomori, which was also damaged by the tsunami, tells our correspondent in Fukushima City that the whole of Japan shares the grief felt in the northeast. "I'm visiting here because I wanted to see how the city looks a year after the disaster. I will pray at the moment the earthquake struck for sure. It was too sad.

"This is not a problem only for Fukushima. All of us should carry the burden."

0251 GMT: One of our correspondents, Shingo Ito, is in Fukushima City, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the nuclear power plant knocked out by the tsunami. He says the city has as air of normality today, with the rail station fairly busy. Light rain is falling and banners reading "Hang in there Fukushima!" are fluttering in the chilly winter wind.

Fumie Miura, a 44-year-old woman from Minamisoma who now lives in a temporary house in Kanagawa near Tokyo, said: "I'm on my way home today as I want to spend the anniversary in my home town. I want to see my house and meet friends there.

"It has been a terrible year. Our family had to move from one place to another as we were ordered to evacuate because of the radiation. I feel sad because many of my friends died in the tsunami."

0245 GMT: Japan's best selling Yomiuri Shimbun has a subdued front page with no banner headline. In its place is an opinion piece atop a photograph of a family kneeling in heavy snow in front of a tsunami memorial in Sendai.

The front page of the Tokyo Shimbun features a large photo of a solitary monk standing on a snow-covered beach in Sendai, facing the Pacific Ocean and offering a prayer.

0232 GMT: Several Japanese newspapers today are lamenting the slow government response to the disaster.

0226 GMT: Harumi Ozawa, one of our correspondents in Tokyo, has just arrived at the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) the operators of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. She says there are so far only a small number of protesters at the site near the Imperial Palace, holding anti-nuclear banners.

She says they are outnumbered by police, who in turn are outnumbered by journalists.

0221 GMT: Our correspondents say Tokyo's usually bustling upmarket shopping district of Ginza feels a little subdued this morning.

0213 GMT: From early morning, Japanese television stations have been showing special programmes to mark the anniversary.

TV Asahi has set aside 12 straight hours from noon for news shows, a live broadcast of the national ceremony, and special features.

WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT OF THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF JAPAN'S DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI.

Across the country, people are to pause to mark a year since the 9.0-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that killed 19,000 people and sparked the worst nuclear crisis in a generation.

We will be bringing you live coverage from our correspondents across the tsunami zone as the nation remembers how its worst disaster since World War II changed the lives of so many.

There will be a moment of silence at 2.46 pm (0546 GMT), when trains will stop, shoppers will stand still and people throughout the country will mark the exact time the quake struck, setting off a catastrophic chain of events.

A national ceremony of remembrance in Tokyo will see the prime minister and the emperor leading silent prayers for those who lost their lives.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsunami-anniversary-live-report-021622773.html

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