'Hearts are in pieces' five years after tsunami hits Japan

Lanterns from northern Japanese city Natori are illuminated during an event to pray for the reconstruction of areas devastated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and mourn victims of the disaster at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo, Japan, March 10, 2016, a day before the five-year anniversary of the disaster. REUTERS/Issei Kato

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan on Friday mourned the thousands who lost their lives in a massive earthquake and tsunami five years ago that turned towns to matchwood and triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

The nine-magnitude quake struck offshore on a chilly Friday, sparking huge black waves along a vast swathe of coastline and killing nearly 20,000 people.