Children and grownups in Higashimatsushima, a city in Miyagi Prefecture that was devastated by the tsunami from the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, are now able to read around 1,500 picture books donated by Taro Gomi, a well-known author of children's books.
The donation was made possible by the efforts of people in Ota Ward, Tokyo, who have been supporting Higashimatsushima since shortly after the disaster struck.
"I was at a loss in the face of the mountain of cardboard boxes," Mari Murayama, who coordinated the donation, recalled of the day at the end of March last year when she saw the picture books in Gomi's old house in Tokyo.