Highlighting JAPAN

March 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the devastating tsunamis which followed it. In this month's Cover Story, we meet numerous non-Japanese who have supported the extraordinary recovery and reconstruction activities which are still ongoing in the affected region.

Trainees from China have been returning to their positions at marine product and food processing plants in Iwate Prefecture.

Two young Taiwanese women, who were just eight days in Japan when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, are still working happily at the Hanamaki Minami Onsen-kyo Village in Iwate Prefecture.

Long-time resident of Japan Steve Yamaguchi continues to put his weight behind reconstruction activities in Miyagi Prefecture.

Vincent Dromer from France is back in the kitchen of his family-owned patisserie in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture.

The Bayanihan Kesennuma Filipino Community and its radio show has been bringing comfort and support to listeners both in Japan and overseas.

Metallic materials researcher Zhao Xiaoli from China has been doing "whatever she can" to help get her university, Tohoku University in Sendai, back on its feet.

Assistant language teacher Jake Derector was teaching in Ishinomaki when the March 11 tsunami struck his adopted town...

Japanese-Brazilian artist Titi Freak has brought a splash of color to temporary housing in Ishinomaki.

To the delight of their regular customers, two Indian chefs have returned to the restaurant where they worked in Koriyama.

Kambenga Marie Louise from Rwanda has enjoyed a close connection with her "second home," Fukushima, for almost two decades.

Fukushima University's William McMichael considers it "[my] role to establish links between Fukushima and Canada, and between Fukushima and the rest of the world."