Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan

Eiji Yamahira (48), a welder, eats lunch in his temporary accommodation during a break at the Kidoura shipyard. Workers are constructing the first two fishing vessels to be built since the tsunami destroyed the shipyard.

A year after the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated large areas of northeastern Japan, thousands of people remained without homes, and the Japanese government was still struggling to dispose of rubble and help rebuild livelihoods. The local fishing industry was particularly badly affected. Numerous fishing towns had their equipment, factories, boats, and livelihoods washed away. As a result, many fishermen have turned to alternative industries, including cleaning the mountains of rubble.