[JERRY2KONE]

This is just one piece of a story being told at villages throughout the northeastern shores of Japan. It is about hundreds of stone markers placed as a sort of warning barrier telling people not to build anything below those markers because of the histroy of Japan's repeated tsunami's over the centuries. Some are said to be dated back over 600 years telling of these freak waves that destroy homes and kill people, and yet they keep on building there. Over time we forget about these disasters and violate natures undaunted warnings. This is no different then the people who keep building in New Orleans on ground that is lower than the sea around it. How many times does humanity have to suffer great disasters like these to realize that it is not smart trying to beat the awsome power of this planet and its environment? How many thousands of people have to lose their lives needlessly before the message is understood? Seems pretty obvious to me.

The tightly-knit community of Aneyoshi, where people built homes above the marker, was an exception.

"Everybody here knows about the markers. We studied them in school," said Yuto Kimura, 12, who guided a recent visitor to one near his home. "When the tsunami came, my mom got me from school and then the whole village climbed to higher ground."

Aneyoshi, part of Miyako city, has been battered repeatedly by tsunamis, including a huge one in 1896. Isamu Aneishi, 69, said his ancestors moved their family-run inn to higher ground more than a hundred years ago.

But his three grandchildren were at an elementary school that sat just 500 feet (150 meters) from the water in Chikei, a larger town down the winding, cliffside road. The school and surrounding buildings are in ruins. Their bodies have not been found.

Farther south, the tsunami washed away a seven-foot (two-meter) tall stone tablet that stood next to a playground in the middle of Natori city. Its message was carved in giant Japanese characters: "If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis."

That didn't stop some people from leaving work early after the earthquake, some picking up their children at school en route, to check the condition of their homes near the coast.

Many didn't make it out alive. More than 820 bodies have been found in Natori, some stuck in the upper branches of trees after the water receded. Another 1,000 people are still missing.

Hiroshi Kosai grew up in Natori but moved away after high school. His parents, who remained in the family home, died in the disaster.

"I always told my parents it was dangerous here," said the 43-year-old Kosai, as he pointed out the broken foundation where the tablet once stood. "In five years, you'll see houses begin to sprout up here again."