Most of Asia's major rivers find their source on the Tibetan plateau. However as the global temperature rises, Tibet’s glaciers are melting and grassland permafrost is thawing at an alarming rate.

The Meiji Sanriku tsunami, which struck 126 years ago, killed as many as 20,000 people. A stone cenotaph was erected in the village of Toni in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, to mark the disaster ...