Prince William visited the tsunami hit city of Ishinomaki of Sunday (March 1) in the last leg of his Japan visit as he paid his respects to those lost in 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
More than 3,700 people died in the city of Ishinomaki, the most of any city in the disaster that left over 16,000 dead, and it still has large swaths where buildings are missing and where the wave swept through.
William headed to a temple that overlooks the bay and laid flowers on the ground before observing a moment of silence for those who were lost.
He also met with children who had made and handed him paper cranes.
His next stop was a local newspaper office that itself was nearly destroyed in the wave.
“And tell me a little bit about what the day was like when the tsunami came,” he said.
The Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun’s editor in chief showed William how after the tsunami, with their printing machines destroyed, they instead wrote out the news by hand and delivered it to evacuation centres.
William is scheduled to leave Japan on Sunday (February 1) and travel to his next stop in Asia, China.
Reuters wires/TV Tokyo
