In this aerial image, a Joban line train runs past a temporary storage site of the radiation-contaminated soil as the train operation restarted between Hirono and Tatsuno on June 1, 2014, in Naraha, Fukushima, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun
In 2011, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl occurred in Fukushima, Japan. Five years later, the first town in the mandatory evacuation zone has officially reopened. Steve Featherstone visited Naraha shortly after the historic occasion to find a town still struggling to return to its pre-disaster state:
“Hisao Yanai, a one-armed, chain-smoking, retired yakuza boss, stands alone behind the bar at Ippei, the restaurant he owns in the Japanese town of Naraha. There are no customers today. The streets outside the restaurant are deserted. Five years ago, on March 11, 2011, a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located ten miles north of Naraha, forcing the evacuation of roughly 160,000 people. Half of them still cannot go home. Last fall, Naraha became the first town in Fukushima’s mandatory evacuation zone to reopen fully, allowing all 7,400 residents to return. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before. Could a town despoiled by radiation be summoned back to life?”
Read Featherstone’s full account in The New Republic. Look at Naraha’s slow return to normalcy below.
Masae Endo, 50, jogs the town where the evacuation order was lifted on September 5, 2015, in Naraha, Japan. The Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant can be seen in the distance. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
People light candles in prayer for restoration as the evacuation order is to be lifted on September 4, 2015, in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
A member of a fisheries cooperative association captures salmon in a traditional net on the Kidogawa river on October 18, 2015, in Naraha. It was the first time the fishing operations took place since the nuclear disaster at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
Kazuyoshi Sato, 59, smiles as he returns his home at the former no-go zone of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
Shukan Sakanushi, head priest of the Dairakuin temple, performs a ceremony praying for the rebuilding of his hometown on September 5, 2015, in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
Kaneko Takahara, 66, sits on newly furbished tatami mat as she returns her home at former no-go zone of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
Toshimi Sato, 64, tidies up the garden of his house as the evacuation order was removed on September 5, 2015, in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
A returned family have dinner at their house as the evacuation order was lifted on September 5, 2015, in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
Blue tribute lights illuminate the sky as the evacuation order is to be lifted on September 4, 2015, in Naraha. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag
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