Japan fell silent on Monday to mark the exact time one month ago that a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck, spawning a monster tsunami that has killed up to 25,000 people.
Sirens were going off and people were bowing their heads and weeping in some hard-hit towns as the pause came at 2.46pm (1546 AEST), which is when the quake hit on March 11.
In the devastated city of Kesennuma, soldiers digging through rubble to search for some of the 15,000 people still listed as missing stopped to pay their respects.
An officer ordered his men to down tools and remove their helmets, gloves and masks to mark the moment one month ago when nature unleashed its fury on Japan.
Cold rain fell and the stench of rotting matter hung in the air as a siren sounded to signal the minute had begun.
The minute over, the soldiers picked up the sticks they use in their search for bodies and began the grim task of combing the rubble again.
Television footage from around the northeast, where about 13,000 people are known to have died in the massive waves that crushed the coast, showed survivors and rescue workers bowing their heads in silence.
The tsunami washed away dozens of coastal communities and damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, creating a nuclear crisis that is still unresolved.
One month on, more than 150,000 people are living in shelters, 158,000 people are still without electricity and 210,000 have no running water.
