Along the hard-hit northeastern coast, communities came together to remember victims. Monks chanted. Survivors prayed. Mothers hung colorful paper cranes for lost children.
Half a year later, there are signs of progress.
Much of the debris has been cleared or at least organized into big piles. Most evacuees have moved out of high school gyms and into temporary shelters.
But anxiety and frustration remain. Survivors face an uncertain future, and they are growing increasingly impatient with a government they describe as too slow and without direction.