People at a book store react in Sendai, northern Japan as an earthquake hits Friday.

An area is flooded by tsunami in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture (state) as Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast.

An office building burns in Tokyo after the earthquake.

People take shelter as a ceiling collapses in a bookstore during an earthquake in Sendai, northeastern Japan.

Rescue workers hurry to a building following reports of injuries in Tokyo's financial district.

A building burns after an earthquake in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

Hundreds of Oahu residents flocked to the Times Supermarket to purchase water and supplies in Hawaii.

In this video image taken from Japan's NHK TV, ships and boats are washed ashore in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefectur.

In this image made off Japan's NHK TV video footage, houses are washed away by the tsunami in Sendai, Japan.

In this image made off Japan's NHK TV video footage, vehicles are washed away by the tsunami in a coastal area of eastern Japan.

People walk past a ruined bus stop which was crushed by part of fallen outer wall of a nearby building in Sendai, Japan.

Reporters at the Associated Press Tokyo Bureau in Tokyo take shelter under a table while a strong earthquake strikes eastern Japan.

A person on the third floor of a Japanese airport photographs damage and debris.

A truck is stuck on a road crack after a powerful earthquake in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

A fire burns at a passenger terminal at Sendai Airport after the airport was swamped by the tsunami in northeastern Japan.

In this video image taken from Japan's NHK TV, a wave from the tsunami heads to the coast in Miyagi Prefecture on the north east coast of Japan.

In this video image taken from Japan's NHK TV, a wave from the tsunami sweeps boats inland in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

A technician at the French National Seism Survey Institute , points at a graph showing the Japan earthquake.

Houses swept out to sea burn following the tsunami.

Houses are in flame while the Natori river is flooded by tsunami tidal waves in Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan.

Houses and cars are swept out to sea in Kesennuma city.

Flames rise from an oil refinery after a powerful earthquake in Ichihara, Chiba prefecture.

Women wait on the street after evacuating a building following an earthquake in Tokyo.

Fishing boats are swept by a tsunami in Oarai City in Ibaragi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

Passengers sleep at a lobby as they wait for their transportation at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, March 12, 2011.

Light planes and vehicles sit among the debris after they were swept by a tsumani that struck Sendai airport in northern Japan.

The devastation caused by the Japanese earthquake is evident.

Cracks are seen in roads after an earthquake hit Satte in Japan.

Damage is seen in Ofunato city in Iwate prefecture in Japan.

Five nuclear reactor units at the Fukushima nuclear plant are in a state of emergency.

Ruben Chavez, a resident, helps Ecuadoreans to evacuate from Santa Elena, a coastal city bordering the Pacific Ocean in Ecuador.

A building swept under a bridge following a tsunami and earthquake is seen in Sendai, northeastern Japan.

A light aircraft and vehicles swept by the tsunami are seen in Natori city, Miyagi prefecture.

Buildings swept by a tsunami following an earthquake are seen in Miyagi Prefecture.

Houses are in flame while the Natori river is flooded over the surrounding area by tsunami tidal waves in Natori city.

An SOS sign is drawn on the grounds of a school in Minami Sanrikucho in Miyagi Prefecture.

An energy map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the intensity of the tsunami in the Pacific Ocean caused by the magnitude 8.9 earthquake.

A ship lifted up onto shore after an earthquake and tsunami is seen in Sendai.

A woman and child in Iwate prefecture after the Japan quake and tsunami.

A combination picture of satellite images taken by Taiwan's National Space Organisation shows Japan's Sendai area before the earthquake and tsunami.

A picture taken from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter shows the central part of the town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.

A soldier carries an elderly man on his back to a shelter in Natori city, Miyagi prefecture.

People evacuate with small boats down a road flooded by the tsunami waves in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture.

Soldiers walk on debris scattered across the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture.

A building stands in the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area.

A man rides a motorbike past an overturned squid-fishing boat tossed onto land by a tsunami in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture.

Rescue workers search for victims in the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area.

Residents return into the restricted area to look at their quake-damaged homes in Miyagi prefecture.

Back home for just three hours, a tearful Miyoko Takeda sorted through her belongings. She left behind the kimonos she once wore as a traditional dancer, fearful they might be contaminated by radiation.

Nearly a year has passed since a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, but Okuma Town, the site of the reactors at the centre of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, remains off limits for residents, save for short trips to hastily abandoned homes.



The Fukushima Daiichi plant, on the coast 240km northeast of Tokyo, was wrecked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, triggering reactor meltdowns and radiation leaks that caused mass evacuations and widespread contamination.



For the about 11,000 residents of Okuma, and the nearly 80,000 people across the prefecture who have been unable to return to their homes due to high radiation, the mental scars run deep even though many of their homes are physically intact.



Many do not know when, if ever, they can return to land that has been in their families for generations.



The 74-year-old Takeda, who visited her home with her husband at the weekend to remove cabinets, said that she has been unable to properly function ever since the evacuation last March.



"I can't sleep, I can't eat, I lost eight kilogram and when I went to the doctor I threw up everything I took," she said, walking through her house, less than 10km from the plant, in a white protective suit.



On her third trip back, Takeda fought back tears as she tried on her kimonos one last time before the three-hour window to return ended and they were once again forced out of the 20km exclusion zone in which their home lies.



Okuma is the location of four reactors at the centre of the nuclear crisis, out of the crippled plant's total six reactors.



Over 1000 people from three towns, all within the exclusion zone, went back on Sunday to an area where weeds have taken over kindergarten schoolyards and manure from roaming cattle covers the roads.



QUILTS SPREAD OUT



In some cases, families left in such haste that their futon sleeping quilts were still spread out on the floor.



While some people, like Takeda, used their precious few hours to pick up belongings, others visited family graves and repaired the damage caused by the quake and its aftershocks.



With headstones overturned and weeds encroaching on ancient graves, 59-year-old Minoru Fukuo and his wife tidied up the area even though its only visitors now are passing wild animals.



"We just prayed that we want to come back soon, and clean up the grave properly. So we asked them (our ancestors) to wait until then," Fukuo said.



This is only the third time that residents have been allowed back into the nuclear exclusion zone since the disaster, and the first time that they have been allowed to visit graves.



Since the quake hit, the residents of Okuma have scattered across the country.



With no clear future, some are losing hope.



"If it's a normal disaster you recover from it, and you go forward a bit every day. But this time you don't," said Tomiko Ikinobu, 47. "All that's left is uncertainty."



The Japanese government declared the Daiichi nuclear plant to be in a state of "cold shutdown" late last year but the Environment Ministry has said about 2400 square km of land around the plant may need to be decontaminated - an area roughly the size of Luxembourg.



Ikinobu, who lives with her four children in temporary housing, has been without a job since the disaster.



"Once a year goes by, everything has a year added to it, so getting a new job gets harder. My kids are getting bigger as well."

1 of 35 Reuters A boy and his grandmother read a book at an evacuation centre in a gymnasium in Yamagata, northern Japan. 2 of 35 Reuters A student volunteer holds a sign saying "Instant noodles, one per head" for evacuees from Futaba, a city near the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 3 of 35 Reuters A calendar shows the date of the massive earthquake as 86-year-old Teru Suzuki cleans her damaged home in Ofunato. "It could only be destiny," says Suzuki, who has survived two other big earthquakes in her lifetime. 4 of 35 Reuters Akira Abe speaks at a news conference after his 16-year-old son Jin Abe was rescued nine days on from the earthquake. 5 of 35 Reuters Japan Self Defense Force officers survey the damage in the destroyed Otsuchi village, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, more than a week after the earthquake. 6 of 35 ASAHI SHIMBUN/Reuters 80-year-old Sumi Abe and her 16-year-old grandson Jin are rescued from under the rubble in Ishinomaki City, nine days after Japan an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan. 7 of 35 Reuters A group of rescue workers observes a minute of silence to mourn for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 18. 8 of 35 Reuters An elderly couple delivers food to their relatives who are victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Minamisanriku City, Miyagi Prefecture 9 of 35 Reuters A woman walks past snow-covered rubble in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture. 10 of 35 Reuters A family walks past rubble after the earthquake and tsunami in Minamisanriku City. 11 of 35 Reuters People watch a television broadcasting Japan's Emperor Akihito's televised address to the nation, something only seen in times of dire crisis. 12 of 35 Reuters Chief Naval Air Crewman Steven Sinclair, assigned to the Black Knights of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4, delivers bottled water to residents in Miyagi Prefecture. 13 of 35 AP A man carries a heat blanket as he leaves a radiation emergency scanning centre in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, March 15. 14 of 35 AP Tsunami survivors cook and eat in front of their damaged house Tuesday, March 15, 2011 in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. 15 of 35 Reuters Civil defence relief workers in Otsuchi, in the Iwate prefecture, eastern Japan March 15. 16 of 35 Reuters An injured survivor searches for food at a destroyed supermarket in the devastated residential area of Otsuchi. 17 of 35 Reuters A woman and her maternal aunt cry at a shelter as they reunite for the first time after an earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture. 18 of 35 AP Evacuees line for meals in a shelter in Soma city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011. 19 of 35 Reuters Elderly people sleep on the floor at an evacuation centre set in a gymnasium in Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture in northern Japan. 20 of 35 Reuters A man reacts as he finds his wife, left, and child alive at a Red Cross hospital after they were separated by the earthquake and tsunami, in Ishinomaki, northern Japan 21 of 35 Reuters A boy plays with a balloon at an evacuation centre set in a gymnasium in Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture in northern Japan. 22 of 35 AP Rescue workers carry an elderly man found alive under rubble along a slope of a hill in Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture. 23 of 35 Reuters 52-year-old local resident Emiko Ohta stands in front of the debris of her destroyed home in Kuji, Iwate prefecture, Japan March 14, 2011. 24 of 35 AP Tsunami survivors evacuate from tsunami-torn town in Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, March 12. 25 of 35 Reuters A woman is rescued from a flooded area in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, March 13, 2011. 26 of 35 Reuters A woman surveys the damage caused by a tsunami and earthquake in Ishimaki City. 27 of 35 Reuters A survivor cries at a shelter in a village ruined by earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture. 28 of 35 Reuters A woman searches for supplies amid piles of debris in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. 29 of 35 Reuters A boy looks at an award certificate that he found among debris after an earthquake and tsunami struck Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. 30 of 35 Reuters An elderly woman is given first aid at a Japanese Red Cross hospital after being evacuated from the area hit by tsunami in Ishinomaki. 31 of 35 Reuters A child who evacuated from the vicinity of Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is pictured in Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan. 32 of 35 Reuters An injured child sleeps at a Japanese Red Cross hospital after being evacuated from the area hit by tsunami in Ishinomaki. 33 of 35 Reuters An injured girl is brought to a Japanese Red Cross hospital after being evacuated from the area hit by tsunami in Ishinomaki. 34 of 35 Reuters A man cries outside an evacuation centre after learning that a friend perished after an earthquake and tsunami struck Higashimatsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture. 35 of 35 Reuters A member of the Japanese Red Cross feeds a baby, a survivor of an 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, at the Ishinomaki Red Cross hospital.

1 of 23 Reuters Four-year-old girl Saki Watanabe is tested for possible nuclear radiation at an evacuation centre in Koriyama. 2 of 23 Reuters A girl wearing a hat sits in her stroller as she takes part in an anti-nuclear protest with her mother in Tokyo. 3 of 23 Supplied The crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant is seen in Fukushima Prefecture in this undated handout photo. 4 of 23 Reuters A man is tested for radiation in Koriyama. 5 of 23 Reuters Hiromi Kobayashi, who is eight months pregnant, is tested for possible nuclear radiation exposure at an evacuation center in Koriyama. 6 of 23 Reuters TEPCO's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant No.4 reactor is seen in this still image taken from a video shot by an unmanned helicopter on April 10, 2011. 7 of 23 Reuters TEPCO's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 reactor in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan is seen in this still image taken from a video shot by an unmanned helicopter on April 10, 2011. 8 of 23 Reuters Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, wearing protective suits, operate on JMSDF auxiliary multi-purpose support ship Hiuchi near the Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 9 of 23 Reuters Yumi Sugiura, centre, and her husband, who evacuated from Iitate town in Fukushima, look at a list of detected nuclear radiation levels in communities at a welfare center in Yamagata, northern Japan. 10 of 23 Reuters Yumi Sugiura, who evacuated from Iitate town in Fukushima, receives a screening test for traces of nuclear radiation at a welfare center in Yamagata, northern Japan. 11 of 23 Tokyo Electric Power Steam rises from the No.3 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex, March 16. 12 of 23 Reuters Damage to the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. 13 of 23 Tokyo Electric Power Damage to the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. 14 of 23 Reuters Medical staff use a Geiger counter to screen a woman for possible radiation exposure at a public welfare centre in Hitachi City, Ibaraki. 15 of 23 AP Tokyo Electric Co. employees in charge of public relations use a photo of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex to explain the situation during a press conference. 16 of 23 Reuters The No.3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is seen burning after a blast following an earthquake and tsunami in this satellite image. 17 of 23 AFP A doctor checks uses a giger counter to check the level of radiation on a woman while a soldier in gas mask looks on at a radiation treatment centre in Nihonmatsu city in Fukushima prefecture. 18 of 23 Reuters Smoke rises from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in this still image from video footage. 19 of 23 Reuters An official scans for signs of radiation in Nihonmatsu City after radiation leaked from the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daini nuclear station. 20 of 23 Associated Press Futaba Kosei Hospital patients disembark after being evacuated from a hospital near the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. They might have been exposed to radiation while waiting for evacuation. 21 of 23 Reuters Officials in protective gear stand next to people from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant. 22 of 23 Reuters An official in protective gear talks to a woman who is from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant. 23 of 23 Reuters The damaged roof of reactor number No. 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after an explosion that blew off the upper part of the structure.