ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Kento Abe is still looking for his grandmother. He believes she was with his parents when the tsunami hit their homes three months ago.
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Kento Abe is still looking for his grandmother. He believes she was with his parents when the tsunami hit their homes three months ago.
The 21-year-old has postponed a funeral for his parents until the body of the grandmother, Hideko, is found.
"She may not be found at all," Abe said. "I wonder if after three months it may be time for me to find closure of sorts."
Hideko is among the 8,146 people unaccounted for as of June 9 after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
It took a few days for Abe, who lives in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and his brother, 26, to reach their parents' home in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after struggling through mountains of rubble.
When they finally arrived at where the house once stood, all that was left was a mud-covered foundation.
With the buildings destroyed, the brothers could see through the rubble all the way to the port about 300 meters away.
For survivors, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify the remains of loved ones.
The body of Abe's mother was found in the neighborhood in late March.
When he was first shown a photo of the body, Abe couldn't recognize it, thinking only that it resembled her.
He finally identified his mother by the necklace she was wearing. The clothes that covered her torso had been torn away by the tsunami.
The body of his father was found in a different location in mid-April. The wallet in a trouser pocket contained his driver's license.
Their bodies were cremated, and the ashes have been entrusted to a temple.
The list of unidentified bodies released by the Miyagi prefectural police includes some details, such as estimated age, hair color and clothing.
Abe's memories of Hideko are uncertain.
He only remembers she was in her 80s.
Abe last returned to his parents' home about one month before the earthquake. He couldn't remember her hairdo or color clearly.
Hideko had not seen her dentist for 10 years, and her medical records were not available.
Abe only knows that Hideko had an artificial joint in one of her legs.
He can't even remember what they last talked about because he always took his grandmother's presence for granted.
"I have learned again what a large part my family played in my life after I lost them," Abe said.
Survivors often come to the area where Abe's parents lived, looking for their own missing family members.
"In this area, we have no idea about what was washed away or to where," a 53-year-old woman said. "Our car was found in the neighborhood up in a tree."
The city government said 2,770 people were still missing in Ishinomaki as of April 4. The figure has not been updated because authorities don't have the resources they need.
"We might be able to identify more victims if we carry out detailed investigations such as those for criminal cases," said a senior police official. "But we cannot afford such investigations."
The body of an elderly woman, found on the rear seat of a taxi on a back street in Ishinomaki about 10 days after the earthquake, remains unidentified.
It is not known where the driver, who also died, picked her up after leaving the cab office after 8 a.m. on March 11.
"We suppose the driver probably took her near the station and was planning to cross the bridge," said a dispatcher at the taxi company.
The bodies of victims were taken into morgues throughout the quake-hit region.
"The facilities immediately reached capacity," said a Higashi-Matsushima city government official. "We didn't even know where some of the bodies were found."