by prefecture, 8,941 have been confirmed dead in miyagi. 4,400 in iwate and 1,544 in fukushima. the number of people who remain unaccounted for has fallen to 9,880 from a peak of 17,600 in late march. some people were counted twice. while others became evacuees. in fukushima prefecture where the troubled nuclear power plant is located, the number of missing has fallen to 600 after briefly approaching 6,000 in confusion during evacuation. meanwhile, japan's weather officials say the number of aftershocks is declining gradually. but the officials warn of a possibility of strong aftershocks, especially in eastern japan. during the past two months, there were nearly 450 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or stronger including 2 powerful jolts of magnitude 7.1 and 7. >>> an nhk survey revealed the hardships faced by people in the hardest-hit prefectures. 435 people across the three prefectures took part in the poll. more than 450,000 people were living in shelters just after the quake, but the number has now dropped to about 120,000. many evacuees left the shelters saying they were tired o

. >>> the empress and emperor journeyed to iwate prefecture on thursday afternoon to visit survivors of the march lenth disaster. the imperial couple arrived aboard a self-defense force helicopter, and later at a junior high school who is serving as a temporary shelter. they knelt down to chat with about 100 evacuees. the emperor offered words of encouragement to a woman who a narrow escape from the tsunami and told an elderly man to take good care of himself. >> translator: they said it must be difficult to live in a shelter for a long time. when i told them i lost a family member in the disaster, they expressed sympathy and said it must be so hard for me. >> translator: i feel really happy that they visited us. but i was so moved that i hardly knew what i was talking about with them. >> an aftershock struck the region toward the end of the imperial couple's visit. they asked evacuees to be calm. the empress asked the evacuees to remain calm and gently held the hand of a woman who was standing close by. >> translator: i held the empress' hand instinctively, and she squeezed had my h