RIKUZEN-TAKATA, Iwate -- The stump and root network of the "miraculous lone pine," a tree that survived the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011, attracted visitors in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture, as the 11th anniversary of the disaster neared.
The lone survivor from a grove of about 70,000 that had hugged the city's coastline, the tree began to wither the following year, prompting the city government to preserve it as a symbol for restoration work.
