Efforts to keep local people united in Iwate Pref.

MORIOKA, Japan - The Japan National Council of Social Welfare's branch in the town of Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, holds a teatime gathering in May 2014 for local residents who lost or were separated from neighbors in the 2011 earthquake that hit northeastern Japan, though their own houses escaped destruction. The regular teatime gatherings are part of the organization's efforts to prevent local residents from becoming isolated.