Like many other rural towns and cities in northeast Japan, jobs started to vanish when the economy stalled in the early 1990s.

WSJ: A Year After Tsunami's Wrath, Searching for Hope and Resilience

The natural and nuclear disasters in northeast Japan have compounded these problems and made more urgent the need to adopt and implement remedies.

FORBES: Japan Association of Corporate Executives' "Vision for Japan 2020"

Outside of the Northeast Corridor, and unlike in Europe and Japan, only a few city pairs in the U.S. are close enough to allow the necessary speed and convenience.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Not a model railroad

But in Japan, nearly two years after the March 2011 tsunami flattened the northeast coast, few homes have been rebuilt.

NPR: 2 Years On, Slow Quake Recovery In New Zealand