What gets me is how little recovery has happened. Debris cleared, and grass growing: that's really it.
Piecemeal. Some of these small towns & villages had a high proportion of old people, & very low property values before the tsunami. Earthquake damage isn't insurable against in Japan.
Some of the locals will probably be unable to rebuild, others will be unwilling to rebuild in the same place, either because it's too vulnerable, or because there's no point rebuilding a house in a town or village which no longer exists, or just because it's not worth the money & effort. Move in with relatives, or rent a flat somewhere else. In many cases, there won't be anyone alive to rebuild. 25000 dead, remember.
I've seen abandoned houses in places like that, without any tsunami. Old person dies, children & grandchildren are living in cities far away & can't afford to maintain the house & pay property taxes, or just aren't interested in it, & nobody wants to buy it. So they walk away & eventually the council takes it in lieu of taxes. When grandmother & her house both went together, there'd be no reason at all to rebuild.
There's quite a lot of visible reconstruction in the places where damage was relatively minor. There are still functioning communities there. One sequence ends with a photo in which one can see a car dealer operating, apparently from a portakabin - but with quite a few cars for sale - and another business open in the building immediately opposite, although only one side has been repaired. Another shows 15 new or repaired fishing boats in a harbour, & damaged houses & commercial buildings nearby repaired & apparently in use.
BTW, I had an e-mail from Mrs B in Ise today. The owner of the seaweed shop her grandparents used to patronise told her today that even there, there was a 2 metre tsunami, which damaged several boats in the harbour at Toba, a place we once visited together. It's a long way south of the earthquake zone, on the western side of the entrance of Ise Bay.
