Tens of thousands of people have rallied near Japan's crippled Fukushima plant demanding an end to nuclear power as the nation marked the first anniversary of a disastrous earthquake and tsunami.

Memorial ceremonies and anti-nuclear demonstrations were held across the northeast region where an estimated 160,000 people were forced to evacuate after the monster waves triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Around 16,000 people gathered at a baseball stadium in Koriyama some 60 kilometres away from the plant.

Participants called for an end to nuclear energy in Japan and compensation for victims from operator Tokyo Electric Power, a year after the March 11 quake-tsunami sparked the world's worst atomic disaster in a generation.

"Our town has turned out to be another Chernobyl," Masami Yoshizawa, who ran a cattle farm in Namie, 10km from the plant, shouted through a loudspeaker.

"We are in despair now, but I will get back my hometown even if it takes me the rest of my life," said Yoshizawa as he stood atop a wagon displaying pictures of his cows lying dead in their shed.

"I won't be beaten, no matter what. I will keep on fighting," he said.

A group of monks in brown and white robes chanted Buddhist sutras as activists carried banners reading: "We never forget the March 11 Great Earthquake. We will never forgive the nuclear accident."

"Fukushima is being forgotten day by day," said Yumiko Ono, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Tokyo.

"If we don't raise our voices right now, another accident could happen. We want to tell the world that the crisis and the hardship is still going on," she added.

A moment of silence was observed at 14:46, the moment the 9.0-magnitude quake struck below the Pacific sea floor, sending monster waves into Japan's northeastern coast.

The tsunami swamped cooling systems at the plant and sent three reactors into meltdown, spewing radiation into the environment.

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)