WWII memory: Destruction and construction of Japan

This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 Tokyo firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bombed-devastated Azuma Bridge area after the firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows survivors commute near an incendiary bombed Kamiya Bar, left, and Matsuya Asakusa department store, right after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated Matsuya Asakusa department store, seen from Azuma Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows Matsuya department store partially is seen among newer buildings in Tokyo. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows incendiary bomb-devastated area of Kameido district after Tokyo firebombing, seen from Kameido Tenjin Bridge. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated area and Sumida-gawa Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows trains run over Sumida-gawa Bridge with Japan's tallest building "Tokyo Skytree" in Tokyo. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bombed Matsuya Asakusa department store, center, after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo was taken on March 7, 2015. Source: AP

This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows an incendiary bomb-devastated Azuma Bridge after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo was taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015. Source: AP

This combo of two photos shows initial destruction and reconstruction after the March 10, 1945 firebombing. The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows damaged Matsuya department store after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on Feb. 27, 2015. Source: AP

The top photo taken on March 19, 1945 shows survivors commute through destroyed Nakamise shopping street after Tokyo firebombing. The bottom photo taken 70 years later on March 7, 2015, shows a visitor prays toward Sensoji Temple at the start of the Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa district in Tokyo. Source: AP

Haruyo Nihei speaks in front of a map of damaged area of 1945's Tokyo Firebombing at the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage. Nihei was only 8-years-old when the biggest attack of the war, the firebombing of central Tokyo, killed over 100,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more homeless. Source: AP