MINAMI SOMA, Japan (AP) -- The Odaka neighborhood seems frozen in time since it was abandoned after the tsunami nearly a month ago: Doors were left hanging open and bicycles were abandoned. A lone taxi sits in front of the train station. Mud-caked dogs roam empty streets, their barking and the cawing of crows the only sounds. Many homes and businesses in the area escaped serious damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but their owners have not been allowed back because of concerns about radiation from the nearby nuclear plant crippled by the massive wave. Some have returned anyway, saying they need to get on with their lives. Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder's black and white images of the area capture the stark sense of abandon.
( 26 images)
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Footsteps leading away form an abandoned vehicle are seen in the mud in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011, inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors. AP / David Guttenfelder
A Japanese policeman a wearing a protective radiation suit wades through a canal as he searches for the bodies of victims of the tsunami in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011, inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors. AP / David Guttenfelder
A stray dog looks back at the ruins of a tsunami-destroyed neighborhood in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011, inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors. AP / David Guttenfelder
A dead pig lies next to a flooded road in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Uncollected garbage sits on a corner in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A covered car sits in a garage where it was left behind in Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Shoes and slippers are left in the front entrance of a small abandoned hotel in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A cat sits in the window of a damaged building in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Aa Japanese soldier wearing a protective radiation suit looks out from the back of a military truck on a road in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Japanese police wearing protective radiation suits search for the bodies of victims of the tsunami in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Chairs are left behind and roof tiles from a collapsed building litter the street in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Japanese police wearing protective radiation suits carry the body of a victim of the tsunami from a rice paddy in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A tsunami-wrecked supermarket is left abandoned in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
An abandoned car lot remains in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Bicycles are left at the Odaka train station in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A deserted street runs through the center of the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A dead carp lies in the rubble of a tsunami destroyed part of the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Abandoned dogs roam an empty street in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A funeral car is left in a garage in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A photo album sits in the mud in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Japanese police wearing protective radiation suits search for the bodies of victims of the tsunami in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Dried mud from the tsunami is caked on the sidewalk and windows of an abandoned shop in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A curtain hangs down from the shattered window of an earthquake damaged abandoned restaurant in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A calender showing the March 11, 2011 date of the earthquake and tsunami hangs on the wall of a room in the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Friday, April 8, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Footprints are left in the dried mud of a street of the Odaka area of Minamisoma on Thursday, April 7, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
A Japanese policeman wearing a protective radiation suit stands guard on Thursday, April 7, 2011 as his colleagues load a dead body into a van in the Odaka area of Minamisoma. AP / David Guttenfelder
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