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By MALCOLM FOSTER and MIKI TODA Associated Press
RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan March 11, 2012 (AP)
People across Japan prayed and stood in silence on Sunday to remember the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the nation one year ago, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century.
In the devastated northeastern coastal town of Rikuzentakata, a siren sounded at 2:46 p.m. — the exact time the magnitude-9.0 quake struck on March 11, 2011 — and a Buddhist priest in a purple robe rang a huge bell at a damaged temple overlooking a barren area where houses once stood.
At the same time in the seaside town of Onagawa, people facing the sea pressed their hands together in silent prayer.
Meanwhile, at a memorial service in Tokyo's National Theater, 78-year-old Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stood in silence with hundreds of other people dressed in black.
Even in Tokyo's busy shopping district of Shibuya, pedestrians briefly stopped and fell silent before carrying on.
Noda recalled in a speech that the Japanese people have overcome disasters and difficulties many times in the past, and pledged to rebuild the nation and the area around the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant so that the country will be "reborn as an even better place."
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Only two of Japan's 54 reactors are now running while those shut down for regular inspections undergo special tests to check their ability to withstand similar disasters. They could all go offline by the end of April amid local opposition to restarting them.
The Japanese government has pledged to reduce reliance on nuclear power, which supplied about 30 percent of the nation's energy needs before the disaster, but says it needs to restart some nuclear plants during the transition period.
Authorities say no one has died from radiation exposure, but residents are worried the radiation might result in cancers in coming years. Scientists say there is no clear evidence of increased cancer risk from the estimated amount of radiation Fukushima residents have been exposed to, although the health impact of low-dose radiation remains uncertain.
Pilot efforts to make contaminated land around the plant inhabitable again have begun, using everything from shovels and high-powered water guns to chemicals that absorb radiation.
Prime Minister Noda has acknowledged failures in the government's response to the disaster, including being too slow in relaying key information and believing too much in "a myth of safety" about nuclear power.
In Rikuzentakata, 37-year-old Mika Hashikai, who lost both her parents in the tsunami, went around Sunday leaving flowers at the former homes of her friends and neighbors. Her brother also lost his wife and daughter in the tsunami.
"I only wish for my brother's happiness now that he's lost everything and is alone," she said. "Maybe one day he can remarry and have children again."
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Foster reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
