Two years have passed since Mayor Yuko Endo of Kawauchi village made a widely publicized plea calling on its residents to return home after they were forced to relocate in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
While the number of returning residents has been growing, there are few young people among them, posing a challenge to village officials in bringing the community back to what it was.
Large swathes of the highland farming village were declared evacuation or “stay indoors” zones after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located northeast of the village, was crippled by the quake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 and spewed radioactive material into the environment.
Continue reading at FOCUS: Younger generation slow to return to Fukushima village (subscription fee required)
