Kan visits tsunami-hit Ishinomaki in Miyagi Pref.

ISHINOMAKI, Japan, April 10 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited a devastated fishing area Sunday in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, during his third trip to northeastern Japan since a massive earthquake and tsunami ravaged the region nearly a month ago.
Kan also visited a Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Sendai, where the SDF and the U.S. military in Japan set up a joint office for relief work, and thanked U.S. military officers for their efforts of cooperation.
''I felt a considerable amount of energy will be necessary for the reconstruction. I saw progress in part of work to remove rubble but restoration of lifelines has been insufficient,'' Kan told reporters after visiting a shelter and seeing streets.
Kan went to the disaster area as the SDF and the U.S. military launched their second intensive search for the missing people in coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, in which they found and recovered 90 dead bodies by 9 p.m.
The death toll from the disaster was 13,013 in 12 prefectures as of 7 p.m., while 14,608 people remain missing in six prefectures, excluding the hardest-hit Miyagi cities of Sendai, Higashimatsushima and Minamisanriku which have been unable to tally such data, the National Police Agency said.
The Tohoku Expressway fully reopened the same day after partial closure in Iwate Prefecture following the March 11 quake's largest aftershock on Thursday night.
At a devastated fishing port in Ishinomaki, Kan told members of the local fisheries industry that the government will select ports that should be preferentially reconstructed under a rehabilitation program.
The premier also said during a meeting with Mayor Hiroshi Kameyama and Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai that the government will work on constructing 70,000 units of temporary housing for the time being for evacuees in the disaster zone.
But some in the community did not appear to be impressed with Kan's trip to the ravaged area almost one month from the disaster.
Toshiyuki Sasaki, a 60-year-old evacuee at the shelter, complained Kan shortened his visit there to only 10 minutes, saying, ''I had something to tell him but did not even have a chance to see him.'' A woman in the shelter said she appreciated Kan's visit but it made no change in the situation where ''we cannot take a bath or return home.''
During the meeting with U.S. military officials at the Northeastern Army Headquarters of the Ground Self-Defense Force in Sendai, Kan expressed his gratitude for a disaster relief operation the U.S. military mounted this time.
''I thank you, from deep in my heart, for your considerable help since the occurrence of the big quake disaster. The Operation Tomodachi (friends) helps enhance ties between our country and the United States. I'll never forget it,'' Kan said.
About 21,900 SDF members and 110 U.S. military personnel engaged in the day's intensive search, deploying some 90 airplanes and 50 vessels, and working together with police and coast guard of Japan.
In a similar three-day search earlier this month, a total of 79 bodies were retrieved from tsunami-stricken coastal areas of the three prefectures.
Of the U.S. military personnel engaged in the Operation Tomodachi relief efforts with the SDF, meanwhile, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit said the same day that its roughly 2,200-member main force will return to Okinawa next Tuesday.