JAPAN and the WORLD Magazine APRIL ISSUE 2016 #Issue 15 | Page 21

AROUND MARCH 11
FUKUSHIMA
Empty houses along a row of cherry blossom trees that are about to bloom near Yonomori Park in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture.
福島のコミュニティ再生に向けて
WORKING TO BRING FUKUSHIMA
COMMUNITIES BACK TO LIFE
INTRODUCTION
Five years after the Great East
Japan Earthquake and tsunami,
nearly 100,000 residents of
Fukushima Prefecture were forced
to evacuate from their home town,
due to the nuclear crisis at the
Fukushima No.1 Power Plant.
What is going on in the areas near
the power plant?
東日本大震災から5年。地震・津波に加
え福島第一原発事故を伴う複合震災
であったことから、福島県は今も10万
人近い人 たちが避難生活を余儀なく
されている。 原発に近い沿岸地域は今
どうなっているのか?
JAPAN AND THE WORLD MAGAZINE
G
uided by a local, we drove north
along the National Route 6.
During the trip, the dosimeter
showed almost the same level of
radiation as in Tokyo, thanks to
the decontamination efforts, except for the
evacuating zones or some “hotspot” areas. But, at
the same time, temporary deposits here and there
with thousands of packed hazard waste reflected
the circumstances behind the decontamination.
The inhabited coast still has traces of the
destructive tsunami since five years ago. What
was shocking above all was the empty towns
of Tomioka, Futaba, Okuma, and Namie in
Futaba District located within 20km of the
Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
Is it possible to make these home towns
habitable again?
In order to visit the people who have been
facing this difficult challenge, we ma de our
way from the shore to the village of Kawauchi
nestled in the Abukuma plateau.
Although the village got a relatively low dose
WORDS: CHIHO IUCHI
of radiation, protected by the mountainous
geography, all the residents were forced to
evacuate during the aftermath of the disasters
on March 11, 2011, as it was within 30 km of
the crippled nuclear plant and there was little
accurate information at that time.
In January 2012, Kawauchi Mayor Yuko
Endo pioneered among the nine evacuating
municipalities of Futaba District for the
villagers to return home. The administrative
office reopened in March 2012 and has actively
moved the reconstruction projects forward.
As of March 2016, half of the roughly 2,800
population had returned to the village. Among
them, however, only around 600 make the
village their permanent home, according to
members of the village assembly.
Before the nuclear hazard, life in Kawauchi
was based on the mutually complementary ties
between the towns and villages in Futaba District.
“There is no high school and no large hospital
in the village so far,” said Mr. Shigeru Ide,
head of Komatsuya Ryokan, one of the few
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