FIRST AIRED: March 9, 2018

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>> When a massive earthquake struck in 2011, this Japanese fisherman was working as usual by the sea. Soon after, a huge tsunami wave slammed into his city, and killed nearly 2,000 people. Seven years on, Atsushi Fujita, and thousands like him along Japan's northeast coast, have rebuilt their lives.
But those lives have been rebuilt alongside huge sea walls. Fujita and many other residents aren't happy.>> I feel like I'm working inside a fence. It feels like we are in jail, even though we haven't done anything bad.>> The fishermen also worry that the walls could block natural water flows and impact oyster farming.
But experts say the wall is necessary, and will protect people from another tsunami, seen as inevitable in a seismically active nation like Japan. The 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which reached as high as 30 meters in some areas, killed nearly 18,000 people across Japan, and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.
While residents understand the idea behind the wall, many have become more critical over time. Some say they were not consulted enough in the planning stages. All the money spent on the walls has meant that rebuilding elsewhere has fallen behind. Many have found the wall hard to adjust to, used to living side by side with the ocean.
This is something unbearable to us.>>