The recovery workers, from laborers to construction executives, are also spending, bringing business for Sendai's hotels, bars and restaurants.

CNN: Hit by disaster, Japanese city sees spending soar

Bent on suicide, a man repeatedly drives along a winding road on the outskirts of Tehran, searching for an accomplice among laborers at arid construction sites, finally making a pact with a man who insists on speaking stirringly of the world's beauty.

WSJ: The Metaphysical Riddles of Abbas Kiarostami

Then he flew to Istanbul, where the Maltese Falcon, after five years of construction, by more than three hundred laborers and craftsmen, was to be launched.

NEWYORKER: The Kona Files