This man, Yoshikatsu Hiratsuka, grieved for his mother who was killed in the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Despite its reputation as one of the most advanced countries in the world, some towns were completely levelled in the face of the natural disaster. It has been pointed out, however, that the death toll would have been even higher had it happened in a less developed country. (AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Hiroto Sekiguchi)