Tsunami candlelight commemorations

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

The Japanese town of Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture marked the first anniversary of the deadly earthquake and tsunami with a display of more than 3, 000 candles.

The candles were placed in containers bearing messages from people across the prefecture.

The largest arrangement of candles formed a giant sign spelling out the phrase 'Iwaki Bonds of Unity 3-11'.

'Bonds of Unity' became a recurring theme in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster last year as Japan sought to recover from the world's most expensive natural disaster.

Iwaki lies just 30 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant at the centre of the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century.

Radiation monitors in the park were a reminder that, one year on, life is far from back to normal.