News stories around the world reveal a deluge of incomprehensible sameness, the debris of aggregate destruction overshadowing an area known for its rugged beauty and strong individuals.
Annamarie Sasagawa, a 29-year-old travel writer and co-owner of Sasa Trails, a tour guide company based in Tokyo, knows many individuals from the Tohoku region, an area she has visited often over the last eight years both for work and pleasure.
There's the marshmallow-loving mountaineer, distinctive in his bright red parka, who studied fashion design in Paris before settling down to distribute newspapers in Sendai.