Three young women had simple aspirations before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and nuclear crisis altered the landscape of the northeast and their lives on March 11.
"I lost everything I had and my life was totally changed," said Ayaka Ogawa, who became the sole survivor of her family after the tsunami hit Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture.
Ogawa, 19, hardly imagined life beyond her hometown, but after losing her parents, older sister and grandparents, she had to accept the reality of facing life on her own.