This sightseeing boat, Hama Yuri, was pulled 1300 feet from the coast and somehow balanced itself on a two story house during the tsunami in Japan. Two months later, they finally pulled the boat off and have begun to dismantle it.
The image of the boat balancing itself in the aftermath became one of the lasting images of the tsunami and showed the world the strength and all around destruction she left behind. But it also meant something to Japan. Many people thought the ship should be left on top of the house as a symbol of the tsunami's destruction, a sort of reminder for the tragedy that the country had to endure. But given safety concerns for the house underneath it, officials decided otherwise.
Located in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, the Japanese used two cranes and various pulleys to lift the 100 ton boat off of the roof of the house. It's sorta amazing to think that the boat has been there for such a long time but then you realize, the reconstruction of cities and villages destroyed by the tsunami has only just begun. [AJW Asahi]