They found the body high up in a spreading pine tree. Soldiers of the 21st infantry regiment of Japan’s Ground Self Defence Force, had come to the scenic cove of Kamaishi Bay as part of relief efforts launched after last Friday’s huge earthquake off the nation’s north-eastern coast.

They saw the body tangled among fishing nets and buoys that had caught in the branches 14 metres off the ground. It was a fisherman from the nearby village of Hongo, who died while trying to escape in his boat from the tsunami unleashed by the magnitude 9 tremor.

The fisherman had tried to save his boat by sailing out to sea before the wave struck, instead of fleeing to higher ground. Similar attempts by a few other villagers with bigger boats were successful, since tsunamis are far less dangerous in open water. But for this man the choice was fatal.