information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
2 Avril 2014
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140401p2a00m0na009000c.html
TAMURA, Fukushima -- The Miyakoji district of this Fukushima Prefecture city became the first area within a 20-kilometer radius of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to have an evacuation order completely lifted.
Now that the designation was lifted on April 1, local residents can live in their homes without any restrictions. Still, there are no prospects that residents will return home at an early date because their radiation fears persist.
However, the 100,000 yen in compensation that residents receive every month for their mental anguish from their forced evacuation is set to end in a year.
Following the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, the eastern part of the Miyakoji district, situated within 20 kilometers from the plant, was designated as a no-go zone. The designation forced 358 people in 117 households in the area to evacuate.
In April 2012, the designation was downgraded to a zone where preparations are supposed to be made to lift the evacuation order. In such a zone, where the yearly radiation exposure is 20 millisieverts or less, residents are banned in principle from staying overnight at their homes.
The national government completed decontamination work in the Miyakoji area in June last year, and local authorities started allowing residents to stay overnight in their homes in August on condition that they give notice in advance.
The central government decided in February this year to fully lift the evacuation order, and not decontaminate the whole area again in principle.
About 80,000 residents of areas designated as evacuation zones in 11 cities, towns and villages in the prefecture are currently taking shelter elsewhere. The government is set to lift evacuation orders in areas where decontamination work has been completed.
Some families who returned to Miyakoji, a mountainous area, before the evacuation order was fully lifted, were seen to dine at their homes, while others who have not returned are wondering whether the lifting of the order will lead to the recovery of their neighborhoods.
Kyoji Konnai, 55, a tatami mat shop owner, dined with his family members including his three elementary school-age grandchildren who live in the city of Fukushima.
"I feel more comfortable here than at temporary housing," said his wife, 52-year-old Fukiko.
The Konnais had traveled back and forth between their temporary housing unit and their own home in Miyakoji since August last year. Before the outbreak of the nuclear crisis, they had grown rice on their one-hectare rice paddy, but have no intention of doing so again.
"My relatives were glad whenever I gave them mountain trout I caught and mountain vegetables and mushrooms I picked," Konnai recalled. "But we want to have a barbecue party in a hut I built in my garden last autumn, and enjoy cherry blossoms."
Those hesitant to return home have mixed feelings about their neighborhoods.
Masahiro Ishijima, 56, was staying at an apartment in Tamura when the evacuation order was lifted. He met with about a dozen other residents of Miyakoji who are taking shelter on March 29. They talked mainly about whether to go home or not. He said only one household has decided to return home after the designation was lifted.
An Environment Ministry survey has shown that levels of radiation in his home's backyard were 0.9 microsieverts per hour, four times the maximum amount that local residents seek -- 0.23 microsieverts per hour, or 1 millisievert a year.
Ishijima laments that the results are always the same whenever measurements are made.
"Those who can't return to their neighborhoods have their own reasons," he said.
April 1, 2014
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140401p2a00m0na012000c.html
TAMURA, Fukushima -- Some residents of the Miyakoji district in this city began to return home more than three years after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, as the government lifted its evacuation order for the area on April 1.
On the morning of April 1, Kazuhiro Tsuboi, 66, who was a leader of the district, and his 65-year-old wife Sadako left their temporary housing unit in the center of the city where they had lived for nearly three years for their home in the Miyakoji district.
Temporary housing facilities in the city looked empty under the spring weather. After putting apparel boxes and a personal computer onto a light truck, Tsuboi left his temporary housing unit with no one seeing him off. "April 1 is the beginning. That's why we decided to move out of here," he said before he drove off.
Tsuboi remains outspoken about the situation. "Am I happy? There is nothing I am happy about. Nobody is excited about this," he said.
(Mainichi)
Tsuboi realized first hand that the people of the Miyakoji district, who had been scattered in the mountains before the nuclear crisis, were in fact his nearest neighbors in the temporary housing complex. "Because we used to share things with one another and because there was a hospital and a supermarket nearby, it is natural that there are people who do not want to leave the temporary housing units," he said.
Nevertheless, he said no one could understand the "tightness" of life in the temporary housing complex unless they actually lived there. "After finishing watching TV, we put away our kotatsu electric heater to lay out futon (bedding) in a tiny room so that we all can sleep," said Tsuboi. He said he had long wanted to return to his big house surrounded by stone walls, albeit in an inconvenient location.
After driving for about 40 minutes, Tsuboi arrived at his spacious 165-square-meter home with a black-tile roof. He first opened a veranda-like porch and carried packages into his house. "At any rate, this is better than that (the temporary housing unit). That's partly because this is the place where I was born and raised," he said.
Tsuboi had firsthand knowledge of residents being split over the lifting of an evacuation order for the district. The most decisive factor behind the split is money being provided by the central government. Early returnees receive 900,000 yen each. "In our family, we have our son and his wife and three grandchildren. They will also return home. Everybody knows how much we can get," he said. The atmosphere in the temporary housing complex is that people are sensitive to each other's feelings. "Those who stood against the lifting of the evacuation order were told 'Do you want to get more money?'" he said. That's because if the lifting of the evacuation order is pushed back, they can receive 100,000 yen in damages per month. "We were divided by money. I would never be able to go back to where I was," he lamented.
Tsuboi is concerned about his neighbors and those people who have been his friends since childhood. "Tomohiro,
Tadakatsu, Kyoichi," he recited the names of his neighbors while counting on his fingers. "Maybe, 12 households will come back by the end of April," he said. "I want to make this place full of life at least while having drinks at someone's house because there is no bar here and getting on with those who have returned is important. It is my mission to manage to put the district together. I am still a 'young man' here," he added.
April 01, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
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