A cinderblock altar in Onagawa, Japan, a year after the tsunami. Photo by Shizuo Kamayashi/AP

When we think of rebuilding after a natural disaster, we typically imagine people hauling out the debris left by storm, fire, earthquake, or flood and then banding together to construct new houses and businesses.

But in Japan the kind of attention that must be paid under such circumstances includes paying attention to the spirit that moves through all things. In March 2012, just before the first anniversary of the tsunami that struck the country, someone in the town of Onagawa created this makeshift altar of cinderblocks and placed on it offerings of water and flowers.

Even in catastrophe there is room for beauty, and creating beauty in catastrophe helps us to endure.