For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won't be going home

IWAKI — For many of Japan’s oldest nuclear refugees, all they want is to be allowed back to the homes they were forced to abandon. Others are ready to move away, severing ties to the ghost towns that remain in the shadow of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.

But among the thousands of evacuees stuck in temporary housing more than two and a half years after the nuclear accident, there is a shared understanding on one point - Japan’s government is unable to deliver on its ambitious initial goals for cleaning up the areas that had to be evacuated after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

“You can’t have a temporary life forever,” said Ichiro Kazawa, 61, whose home was destroyed by the tsunami that also knocked out power to the Fukushima plant.

Kazawa escaped four minutes before the first wave. Next year, he hopes to return to a home within sight of the Fukushima plant and take his 88-year-old mother back. But he wants the government to admit what many evacuees have already accepted - for many there will be no going home as planned.

“I think it will be easier for people who can’t go back anyway to be told that so they can plan their future,” said Kazawa, who remains unemployed.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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