The difficult task of reliving in the ghostly towns around Fukushima

Masakazu Daibo has reopened his family’s eel restaurant in Namie, a small town in northeastern Japan that was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. But for now he hardly has any neighbors.

His restaurant is still surrounded by abandoned buildingsovergrown in what was once downtown Namie, right next to the train station.

Ten years after the submarine earthquake that triggered a tsunami which in turn caused the worst nuclear accident in the world since Chernobyl (April 26, 1986), localities facing the threat of radiation are wondering: How to rebuild a community?

In the months following the disaster, access to up to 12% of the department of Fukushima, or more than 1,650 km2, was prohibited. Up to 165,000 inhabitants have been displaced, by obligation or by choice.

Authorities have declared many areas safe after decontamination operations carried out in recent years.

But many displaced people from Fukushima are reluctant to return, despite state financial incentives and cheap rents.

Masakazu Daibo dared to step in last year to run his grandfather’s restaurant in Namie before the disaster, about six miles from the crashed nuclear power plant.

Stray dogs, cows and pigs

Namie and 11 other surrounding towns were part of an exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant, accessible only for short visits for years.

“There was no one left, but the city continued. It was like a movie set, ”Daibo, 65, told AFP. “I only saw stray dogs, cows and pigs.”

Due to the radiation, the walls of the restaurant had to be knocked down and Masakazu Daibo had to throw everything inside.

From now on, he hopes that his customers will find, thanks to him, the “taste of yesteryear”. “I hope my presence is a ray of sunshine for this city.”

Restrictions increased for a fifth of the territory of Namie, whose current population (1,580 inhabitants) is barely 7.5% of that before March 2011.

About 36% of the population is 65 or older, compared to 29% of the national average. Municipal schools only accommodate 30 students, compared to nearly 1,800 ten years ago.

Japan suffers from a strong demographic aging of the population, but in Namie’s case “it is as if the future in 20 years has suddenly come,” said Takanori Matsumoto, a municipal official.

“Our main challenge is to survive as a community”, recognize.

About 337 km2, or 2.4% of the area of ​​Fukushima county, is still uninhabitable today, and the “displaced” population has fallen to 36,000, according to official figures that many experts say are undervalued. .

The government has not set a date for the lifting of the last evacuation orders and doubts remain as to the duration of the dismantling of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which would take between 30 and 40 years.

At present, only 15% of the decontamination area defined by the government has been cleaned, denounced the environmental organization Greenpeace in a report published last week, based on its own radiation measurements.

“Nobody opens the door”

“If I was alone, I would come back,” says Megumi Okada, a mother who left Fukushima after the disaster even though she did not live in an evacuation area.

“But as a mother, I feel like I want to avoid risks for my children.”adds Okada, who now lives in Tokyo.

The return sometimes leaves a bitter taste. Takao Kohata, 83, returned to Minamisoma, north of the damaged power plant, but the parents of his four grandchildren do not allow them to visit him for fear of radiation.

“I fully understand their concerns, but I feel a little sad and alone,” he told AFP.

Masaru Kumakawa, also 83, returned to Namie three years ago, despite this being the place where he lost his wife in the 2011 tsunami.

He runs an association to re-establish links between the inhabitants but has difficulty forging links with his new neighbors.

“They have lived too long as evacuees,” he said. “You knock on the door, but no one opens”, adds.

With information from AFP

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