Sugawara, also 16, said that the tsunami ruined the first floor of his house. Then a fire burned it down.

Sugawara expects to double his sales figures, and he could probably do even better, but he's having a hard time getting vehicles.

Naoki Sugawara stands in his used car lot in Morioka beside a "Sold Out" sign. He says these days 80 percent of his customers are coming from the coast to replace their smashed vehicles.