When an internationally-acclaimed Polish violinist performed at a Japanese music festival in early November, the instrument played was not a Stradivarius or other prized violin. It was assembled from driftwood.

After his performance at the Ikoma International Music Festival in Nara Prefecture, violinist Nicolas Chumachenco was called back to the stage for an encore. Before starting to play, he showed the audience the back of his violin, on which a picture of a single tree was drawn.

The picture was of the famed "miracle pine tree," the only tree that survived the devastating tsunami that swept away a pine forest on the coast of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2011, the day the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the region.