Skip to main content
Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Hope, hard reality mix in Japanese town wrecked by disaster

A damaged gate of a Buddhist temple is seen untouched on an empty street in Futaba, northeastern Japan, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Until recently, Futaba, home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, has been entirely empty of residents since the March 2011, disaster. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A damaged gate of a Buddhist temple is seen untouched on an empty street in Futaba, northeastern Japan, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Until recently, Futaba, home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, has been entirely empty of residents since the March 2011, disaster. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

By MARI YAMAGUCHI / Associated Press 7 min read

FUTABA, Japan (AP) – Yasushi Hosozawa returned on the first day possible after a small section of his hometown, Futaba, reopened in January – 11 years after the nuclear meltdown at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi plant.

It has not been easy.

Futaba, which hosts part of the plant, saw the evacuation of all 7,000 residents because of radiation after the March 11, 2011, quake and subsequent tsunami that left more than 18,000 people dead or missing along Japan’s northeastern coast.

Only seven have permanently returned to live in the town.

“Futaba is my home I’ve wanted to come back since the disaster happened. It was always in my mind,” Hosozawa, 77, said during an interview with The Associated Press at his house, which is built above a shed filled with handcrafted fishing equipment.