Five years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the massive tsunami hit the Tohoku coastline, reconstruction in the disaster-ravaged areas remains a mixed picture at best. The ¥25.5 trillion set aside by the government for the five-year "intensive reconstruction" period through the end of this month may have rebuilt public infrastructure and removed much of the tsunami debris. But reconstruction of people's shattered lives can hardly be called steady five years on, particularly in Fukushima Prefecture, where the radiation fallout from the meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant keep municipalities in the vicinity still uninhabitable.

Demographic trends in the affected areas — already gloomy before the disasters — paint an even grimmer picture of their future today. Reconstruction from the March 11, 2011, disasters must remain a national priority for years to come.

A Kyodo News survey of 300 people in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures — which suffered the most from the tsunami and nuclear disaster — in December showed that most respondents think the reconstruction effort has not made much progress over the past five years, with the ratio of such respondents the highest in Fukushima at 73 percent. Nearly half of the people polled said their household income remains below what it was before the disasters.