Over the past year, the tsunami-ravaged coastline of Japan's northeast has undergone a cleanup never seen before in history for its sheer scale and speed.
From Ishinomaki to Onagawa, Shichigahama to Kesennuma, the landscape has been drastically altered as the nation presses on with the world's costliest disaster recovery to date.
Town after town affected by the tsunami has been razed to the ground. Houses, schools and busy markets have disappeared. Almost everything that was damaged has been flattened and cleared. The horizon now shows towers of scrapped cars, recovered metal and millions of tons of cleared debris. Some colossal industrial units will take longer to dismantle.
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