Japan (1 year after tragedy)

Japan marked the one-year anniversary Sunday of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country's northeastern region, left around 19,000 people dead or missing, and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Memorial services were held in three northeastern prefectures hit hard by the tsunami -- Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima -- as well as in Tokyo and elsewhere, with a moment of silence observed across the country at 2:46 p.m., the time the magnitude-9.0 quake occurred in the Pacific off Miyagi exactly a year earlier.

New haiku
..........................
Japan mourn
and grapples with aftermath
tsunami
..............
earthquake
frost in my heart
tears in eyes
..................
Japan
even here the earth
is full memoirs
.................
full year
prayers of people
for restoration
..................
Japan mourn
thousands flowers of a lotus
and origami
..................
day of mourn
silence and only prayers
sparkles of tears