. >> miyagi is a story teller and the subject is personal. the battle of okinawa. she is 86 years old and spent 24 years old as a peace guide recounting her experiences. >> my body doesn't work as well as i'd like. it's hard. >> this is miyagi's old school, the one she left to go to war. >> translator: how old were you when the war broke out? >> translator: i was 16. so i was 19 when the war ended. >> the imperial army sent her to a field hospital as a nurse with her classmates. >> translator: one soldier kept telling me he was scared. doctors were going to amputate his leg without anesthesia. they used a saw. so it made a ripping sound. it was terrible. >> memories that most people would rather forget. why does she talk about them? miyagi's hometown is next to the military base. she lived right next to the base for decades. she says the planes overhead are a reminder that peace is fragile. >> translator: i have a sense of crisis, so much so that i feel that war could break out today or tomorrow. but young people don't know war so they are content with the illusion

a student who listened to miyagi's story while visiting okinawa and later moved to the island.he's now telling stories about the war as a bus guide. >>> people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster, but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead," every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time, here on "newsline." >>> preparing for disasters is a part of life in japan. seismologists and emergency officials know the 2011 earthquake and tsunami won't be the country's last so they're constantly working on contingency plans, one involves finding shelter for people who are stranded, should a quake cut power and shut town trains. officials have learned a lot from what happened on march 11th last year. some of the lessons have come from sendai, the city closest to the quake's epicenter. nhk world's ryuta seki shows us what happened there. >> reporter: on the evening of the massive quake, the center of sendai was engulfed in total darkness. ther

but over 190 bodies are still unidentified in miyagi prefecture. over one year after the disaster, police say it's harder to get more information to help them identify bodies. so at the end of may, the police officers posted the likenesses on the internet. >> translator: the corpses were damaged. looking at photos of dead bodies is very difficult in families. the portraits show how the deceased looked when they were living. >> two officers who draw the portraits examine the photo. >> i take a thorough look at the face on the photo. then i imagine that face before death. >> he considers the age of the deceased, and adds wrinkles, or draws facial muscles accordingly. repeatedly, he draws and modifies the picture. each portrait takes at least three hours to draw. >> translator: i hope the portrait helps identify people, as many as possible. >> in early june, a man from a nearby city visited the police station. he wanted to find out if one of the images is a likeness of one of his family members. he had been searching for his father-in-law. he was livi

recently assembly members visited the site in miyagi prefecture to see a disposal facility. they are hoping to reassure skeptical residents to the idea. >> translator: that's a bag filter on the side where hazardous substances are broken up into small particles and get sucked up. >> reporter: people in japan are critical of the slow disposal pace. they also say the government is not releasing any information on the safety of the debris quickly enough. facing growing criticism, the government in october said radioactive safety limits at between 240 and 480 becquerels per kilogram after consulting international organizations. officials are considering whether to accept the debris. >> translator: the safety standards are not trusted by people in japan. aichi prefecture will set a different standard than the national one. >> reporter: the residents of aichi are not as accepting of the debris as the assembly members. a factory in the city is one of the candidate sites that the governor said will receive the debris. this man has a citizen group that is campaigning against acceptin

also in miyagi prefecture, they issued evacuation advisories for possible floods affecting 5,000 people. the storm has disrupted transportation networks across japan. airlines have canceled more than 450 domestic flights. 42 international flights have also been grounded. >>> the weather team has been following the path of the typhoon. what's the latest? >> it has downgraded to severe tropical storm. slowly tracking its way towards the northeastern direction towards the quake-hit region, yes. at the speed of 70 kilometers per hour, what a very speedy storm, so it will be moving off-shore pretty soon, by wednesday afternoon hours. but still, packing up gusts of 162 kilometers per hour, these damaging winds are already injuring numerous people, downing power lines and damaging trees and houses. these also packing up the winds and waves, high waves, in the coastal area, about 10 meters high in these regions. even the western seaboard up to five meters of high waves could be possible and drenching rain fall is going to be continuing with this gochol. looks like it'll be downgrade need a trop

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. >> reporter: fishing is in the blood of the people in the miyagi prefecture, the tsunami washed through their town last year and washed many of their boats away. it took away a lot of other things too. remnants of their past. some of the damaged historical buildings here have been left like this for more than a year. 40 historical structures were part of the sky line before the disaster. now most of them are either damaged or gone. the japanese government designated five of them as national cultural assets. he grew up nearby and has seen many of them since he was a boy. now, he studies and teaches architectural history and conservation at the university of technology. in 2006, an earthquake shook historical structure to the ground on the indonesia island of java, he rushed in to help. and he's done that elsewhere in japan too. >> translator: i can't save people's lives but i can save history and culture. those are both important to people. >> reporter: the president of the brewery that's 106 years old. he grew up in one of the historic buildings the company headquarters. the tsunami was

the prince traveled to miyagi prefecture in may of last year to encourage the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. >>> a fugitive evaded capture by just an hour. according to sources involved in the investigation, takahashi was working under a false name at a construction firm near tokyo. he had been living in a company dormitory since october 2011. takahashi visited one day after another fugitive was arrested near the capital. the security camera captured takahashi urging a bank teller to quickly hand over the money in his account. he withdrew the equivalent of $30,000 from the bank. later in the day, takahashi called his employer saying he needed time off to visit an ill relative. he then packed up his belongings and left the dormitory in a hurry. he left behind a red backpack matching the one that he had been using at the bank. police are now expanding the search to hotels, stations and convenience stores nationwide. >>> the new russian ambassador to japan said his country is ready for territorial talks. japan has long sought negotiations with its neighbor over four islands. the is