Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed Monday his resolve to accelerate reconstruction work on the second anniversary of the March 2011 megaquake and tsunami disaster.

"The government will listen to the local voices and work as one," Abe said in a video message posted Monday morning on the official YouTube channel of the prime minister's office ahead of a government-hosted ceremony to be held later in the day.

"Unless spring comes to Tohoku, real spring cannot come to Japan," Abe said, referring to the northeastern region devastated by the catastrophe.