Members of United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan) care for pets which were rescued from inside the exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, at the group's pet shelter in Samukawa town, Kanagawa prefecture, on January 25, 2012. Dogs and cats that were abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone after last year's nuclear crisis have had to survive high radiation and a lack of food, and they are now struggling with the region's freezing winter weather. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami on March 11 triggered the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years and forced residents around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to flee, with many of them having to leave behind their pets. #

A sign above a shopping district reads "Nuclear Power - The Energy for a Better Future", at the entrance of Futaba town, inside the exclusion zone in Fukushima prefecture, on January 15, 2012. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was hit on March 11, 2011 by a tsunami that exceeded 15 meters in some areas. The tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, resulting in meltdowns of nuclear fuel, and became the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years. #

United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan) Representative Director Yasunori Hoso speaks in front of a destroyed house in Namie town, inside the nuclear exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, on January 28, 2012. #

Tsunami-destroyed houses in Ukedo district, inside the exclusion zone in Fukushima prefecture, on January 28, 2012. More than 150,000 people from Fukushima prefecture continue to live in shelters, nearly half of them from the no-go zone. #

A resident wearing a protective suit holds the cremated remains of his father, who fell sick and died during their evacuated life last September, during a brief visit to the home they were evacuated from, near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, on January 28, 2012. #

An evacuated resident in protective wear checks radiation levels (85.1 microsieverts per hour) in a gutter near a factory in Namie town, Fukushima prefecture, on January 28, 2012. #

A cat plays with the camera in a pet shelter run by United Kennel Club Japan in Samukawa town, Kanagawa prefecture, on January 25, 2012. The cat was rescued from Okuma town inside the nuclear exclusion zone. #

The ashes of cats who died after being rescued from the Fukushima exclusion zone are placed in urns at the United Kennel Club Japan's pet shelter in Samukawa town, on January 25, 2012. #

An empty shopping street in Namie town, inside the 20-km (12-mile) radius nuclear exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, on January 28, 2012. #

A "before" Google Streetview image of Natori, located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, taken in 2008. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

A "before" Google Streetview image from Kesennuma, in northeastern Miyagi Prefecture, taken in 2008. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

A "before" image from near the resort town of Minamisanriku. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene after the earthquake and tsunami. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

A "before" image from near the town of Minamisanriku. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene after the earthquake and tsunami. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture, seen in a "before" image. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene after the earthquake and tsunami. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

Houses in Miyagi Prefecture, before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck. Click on the image to see it fade to the same scene afterward. From Google's Memories for the Future project. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #