“This story is ultimately about how small acts of kindness can bring a little humanity, even in a tragedy that defies all imagination.” It’s an account of what a retired undertaker has achieved in Kamaishi, Japan. Atsushi Chiba took it upon himself to clean and tend to the dead bodies of hundreds of last year’s earthquake and tsunami victims, preparing them for their family members (in case they’re found) and burial.

Read the moving story in The New York Times as we recall the events of one year ago.