Amid Losses, Japan Determined to Reopen Schools

The tsunami killed 74 of the 108 pupils of primary school Okawa and all but one of ten teachers. The main building is gutted, with trees stuck in classrooms on the second floor and the gym and playground have been reduced to muddy concrete foundations.

Classes start in a week.

Throughout the northeast coast of Japan fought, the schools were heavily damaged or converted to shelters, and families are unemployed, permanent homes or cars. But the country is determined to go ahead with one of its rites of spring: the start of the school year in April, even though some parents and children crying.

"I'm not ready to think about school yet. They have not even found my daughter," said Naomi Hiratsuka, who lost her child in sixth Koharu Okawa elementary and younger entering first year.

Officials say that establishing routines is a crucial step in rebuilding communities and drawing residents of crisis mode. The 34 surviving students of Okawa primary classes begin April 21 in four rooms in a nearby school, stay together and considered a school of their own.

"We do not yet know if the school can be rebuilt, but we want to maintain continuity for students," said Shigemi Kato, an official of the education committee at Ishinomaki, a devastated waterfront community about 220 miles (350 kilometers) north of Tokyo.