Living near the Shioyasaki lighthouse overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Himeka Suzuki was a cheerful girl who from a young age loved to paint and draw cartoon characters with color pencils and crayons.
In third grade, she won a prize in a national drawing contest for her painting of the lighthouse. Her dream was to become a designer.
Then, at 10 years old, she was killed by the massive tsunami that roared ashore in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, and other parts of the northeastern coast on March 11, 2011.