Football resumed in Japan after the country sufficiently recovered from the tsunami as Vegalta Sendai played their first home J-League match.

Their long-awaited re-appearance at the Yurtec Stadium came 50 days after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami devastated Miyagi prefecture and other areas along Japan's northeast coast.

Standing on the pitch before the game against Urawa Red Diamonds -- which finished in a 1-0 win for Sendai -- prefecture governor Yoshihiro Murai declared the contest "the kickoff towards reconstruction".