Footage of the Tohoku region's tsunami-ravaged coast has been broadcast constantly over the past year, allowing viewers a closeup view of obliterated communities.
But Eiji Sakai, a resident of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, has had a unique bird's-eye view of the devastation, by paragliding along the coast.
"The first time I flew over the shore after (last March's) quake was on April 1," Sakai, 47, told The Japan Times early this month.