An effort to knit cardigans to help revive the tsunami-hit coastal city of Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture has evolved into a company of 20 people.
The firm, Kesennuma Knitting Co., originally started as a project by Tamako Mitarai, 28, in June 2012. It now employs about 20 local women as knitters.
Among them is Yuriko Oyama, 70, whose house was washed away by the tsunami spawned by the March 2011 mega-quake.