In a coastal city flattened by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, a project is under way to rebuild the area as a self-sustaining community that will be in harmony with nature by making use of Danish knowhow on renewable energy.
The city of Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, has a population of about 40,500 and was picked by the central government in December 2011 as a site for its Future City Initiative, which will address the environmental challenges projected to accompany Japan's rapidly graying society.
Higashimatsushima lost some 1,100 residents to the March 2011 tsunami and its aftermath, many of whom died of hypothermia because the disasters wiped out the electricity and gas lines they would normally use to warm themselves during the winter.