Nahara

September 4, 2015

Lanterns lit up in Fukushima town ahead of lifting of evacuation order

Participants in "Candle Night" look at paper lanterns they lit up at a sports park in Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, on Sept. 4, 2015, the day before an evacuation order issued for the whole town was lifted. (Mainichi)

NARAHA, Fukushima -- Local residents lit up 3,000 lanterns here on the night of Sept. 4 -- the day before an evacuation order for the town affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis was lifted -- to mourn victims of the March 2011 killer quake and tsunami.

In the event called "Candle Night," local residents and volunteers expressed their hopes for recovery from the disaster on paper lanterns placed in a sports park in Naraha.

"There is no endless tunnel, no ceaseless rain," read one message by Fusao Sakamoto, 68. Sakamoto has been preparing to resume his gardening business while traveling back and forth between his home in Naraha and a temporary housing unit in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki, where he currently lives.

"I firmly believe that we'll find our way back to normal life and be able to smile," he says.

The government lifted an evacuation order it had issued for the whole town of Naraha on Sept. 5.