Three months after Japan was devastated by its largest-ever earthquake and subsequent tsunami, most residents see very little progress in a recovery, according to a story in the Christian Science Monitor.

Rigid bureaucracy, political disputes and the extent of devastation are among the problems hindering Japan's comeback from the March quake and tsunami.

"On a recovery scale of zero to 10, some parts of Ishinomaki are at zero and some are at one," the story quotes the mayor of Ishinomaki, Hiroshi Kameyama, as saying. "Nowhere is better than that."

According to the CSM story, almost 100,000 people are still sleeping in gymnasiums, schools and other shelters. Only half of the 52,000 temporary homes that the government requested have been built. Unemployment rates in Ishinomaki have soared to four times the national average.

Some residents, weary of government stalling and red tape, have decided to take things into their own hands by dipping into their savings to restart businesses or clearing land themselves for new homes, instead of waiting for the government to come in and clear it.

Read more about Japan's stalled recovery from the earthquake in the Christian Science Monitor.

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