YNN.com

Despite last year's natural disaster in Japan and predictions a major earthquake will hit Tokyo, many Americans still call that city home. In his final report in his series from Japan, Dean Meminger spoke with Americans about their choice to stay.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Tens of thousands of Americans live in Tokyo. And the experience of last year’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake, followed by a nuclear meltdown has changed the way many of them live.

"Even now I have my earthquake backpacks really close. They are not next to the front door anymore, but we definitely have them," said Chicago, Illinois native Libby Hopkins.

"I don’t love being on the 50th floor of buildings anymore," said Purchase, New York native Lisa Jardine.

There was minimal damage in Tokyo, but hundreds of miles away the Fukushima Nuclear plant had a meltdown. It spewed radiation, some of it reaching Tokyo. Many Americans left Japan but then returned. They say with a few precautions, they’re safe.

“Costco became very important as well, everybody wanted to buy American beef," Jardine said.

"Our Japanese friends and just Japanese people at stores, restaurants, wherever were so overwhelmed with appreciation that we were still here," said Minnesota native Katherine Hall.

Former New York resident Jon Omori said he’s still very concerned about radiation. So his family moved to New York City a year ago while he remains in Tokyo to work.

"You get very, very lonely. I think the girls miss me. I miss the girls and my wife. Fortunately we have Skype and Facetime," Omori noted.

There are also concerns about other nuclear plants in Japan, because the country has hundreds of earthquakes a year.

The government and scientists in Japan say they believe a major earthquake is going to hit Tokyo in the near future. And with some 13 million people living there, it's projected more than 10,000 people could be killed.

Lance Lee, the president of the Tokyo American Club, says he’s not concerned.

"If there was going to be a natural disaster anywhere in the world, I rather be here, because the Japanese people know how to handle themselves. There’s a calmness about Japanese people," Lee said.

“Even with the radiation, even with the ongoing earthquakes that happen. The positives of living in Japan, outweigh the negatives, they just do," Jardine added.

In areas of Northern Japan, many children were killed as their schools were swept away in last year's tsunami. But as YNN’s Dean Meminger reports, all of the students in one town did survive. Some say it was a miracle. However, emergency drills also played a big part in saving those lives.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

As we continue our series on the recovery and rebuilding efforts following last year's earthquake in Japan, Dean Meminger speaks with one leader who questioned his faith in Buddha after the tsunami took so many lives.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

A community leader in Kamaishi City couldn't believe his eyes or what his video camera was capturing as the tsunami poured destruction and grief over his town.

"The Gods that I have put my faith in didn't help at all. Therefore I yelled Buddha and Gods, 'Where are you?'" said Ryoishi Town Leader Hajime Seto.

A year later, he watched from the exact same hill top as the Pacific Ocean literally swallowed much of his town. The nine story high sea wall was supposed to protect the town. But it was no defense. Once the water reached the structure, amazingly it took less than a minute before the wall was underwater itself, with boats and houses floating across it.

To give a sense of how high the water rose, the seawall is 30 feet high. The water went about 90 feet - about three times the wall's height.

Seto says he recorded the video so future generations could learn about tsunamis. However, he didn't know he would be documenting the most powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan's history.

It's an event that left one nurse without a family and close friends. She says she was badly injured after being swiped away by the powerful water.

"Blood was coming from both sides of my head. I think my ribs were broken. It was unbearable," recalled the nurse.

As a survivor, she often visits the spot to pray and leave items for the dead a year after the tsunami. Now just a foundation, it used to be the health clinic the nurse worked in with a doctor and his wife.

"In the middle of January the wife's body was found but was unrecognizable. It was officially identified last month. The doctor was never found," said the nurse.

As people in Kamaishi City try to rebuild their lives, questions remain about rebuilding the towns. Some say homes should be constructed on higher ground and not close to the ocean. But in some areas the water traveled for more than a half a mile.

"We need to do the city planning. But the original owners should keep their land, so the people can go back to where they lived," said Unosumaicho Town Leader Fumio Urayama.

People say past generations have left stone markers to identify areas where houses should not be built because of tsunamis over the centuries. But as the years pass, communities tend to ignore those warning signs and build dangerously closer and closer to the ocean. It's something many survivors hope won't ever happen again.

A courageous woman is being credited with saving many lives during the Japan earthquake - including her own - by making sure her inn was ready for a tsunami. Dean Meminger reports.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Akiko Iwasaki re-enacts how she ran for the hills a year ago as the water from the Pacific Ocean raced behind her. Her frantic ordeal was caught on video. She escaped death by only seconds as the tsunami swallowed everything in its path.

Iwasaki is the owner of an inn called Horaikan in Kamaishi City. Although the first two floors were heavily damaged from the more than 20 foot high waves, she has fully restored her inn.

"Sometimes I feel guilty for moving forward," Iwasaki said.

An estimated 600 people from her town located in the small northern Japanese city were killed. A memorial stone has been placed across from the inn.

Iwasaki is responsible for saving many lives. Years ago her property was renovated to withstand such a tragedy. Behind the inn, stairs were built to get up the hill, just in case a tsunami hit. Now she wants to build a deck from the inn to the hill.

"Because I was saved on the hill. I would would like to build an emergency evacuation area that can be seen from all around," Iwasaki said.

Walking along the beach Iwasaki says she knows tourists and even local residents are very nervous about the water.

"So many of my friends died in the ocean," Iwasaki said.

Iwasaki says a year later she's no longer afraid. She says she actually took a scuba diving class to help get over the fear.

Iwasaki says she now knows what New Yorkers felt during the September 11th attacks: Empathy that brought our Japan liaison to tears.

"Well, her gentleness, her heart, her sharing. And out of this pain she still has courage," said Japanese Liaison Takashi Inagaki.

The meltdown of the Japanese nuclear power plant last year forced the evacuation of 100,000 people, many of whom are still displaced. Our Dean Meminger is in Japan and has the story of one town that is being prepared for the return of its residents.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN -- The village of Kawauchi has been a virtual ghost town for a year. 12 miles from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the village was evacuated. Homes, businesses and schools empty.

"We have no students here, I'm very sorry about that. It is the worst thing, I think," said Toshihiko Takahama, Kawauchi High School Principal.

But the cleanup of anything that might have radioactive contamination continues, as preparations have started for a welcome home celebration. During the first week of April, families are expected to move back to Kawauchi and school will resume.

Principal Toshihiko Takahama says every page of every book has been wiped along with all of the furniture. It’s an attempt to clean away radioactive particles from the power plant that had a meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami.

"These things, the floors, the walls, the ceilings, the blackboards and the top of the shelves. Everything they clean up," said Principal Toshihiko Takahama.

As a precaution, trees and plants around the school have been removed and on the children's playing fields about two inches of soil was taken away.

In terms of business, not much at all. The owner of a soba noodle shop says he has to use his savings to keep the doors open.

"The village economy will not go back to the way it was because our village population was 2,900 and our economy was supported by two nearby towns of which are now in evacuated zones," said restaurant owner Shigeru Ide.

Although residents of Kawauchi Village are being encouraged to return home, those who live beyond a certain point can't come back. It's considered a part of the hot zone, and perhaps too dangerous. Police are blocking the roadway.

The village's mayor says he believes it’s safe to return but admits no one knows exactly what will happen in years to come.

"In the future when energy policy is planned we need to be more humble. We cannot change the past so we have to think about what we can do for today," said Yuko Endo, Kawauchi Village Mayor.

The mayor says he knows the world is watching.