In the three prefectures hardest hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 1,580 children lost either one or both of their parents, according to a health ministry survey of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi conducted at the end of last year.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's poll, most of those children are being cared for by relatives.

In Iwate Prefecture, 7-year-old Sora Sasaki from the coastal town of Yamada lost his mother, Kanako, on the day of the disasters and is currently living with kin. His mother was raising him in a single-parent household; his father was out of the picture.