Meiji Restoration

The bare foundations of houses that were swept away by the massive tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake stand out against the devastated landscapes in hard-hit areas of the Tohoku region. Part of the houses need to be left in place for tsunami victims to receive a subsidy to relocate dwellings situated dangerously close to cliffs as well as those that could be affected by natural disasters," a local government official said.

A senior official of Miyagi prefectural government said there was another reason to leave the foundations in place--for land registration surveys. To confirm land registration, local governments search ...