Hatoyama, Japan (dpa) – Sachiko Mashio’s restaurant business screeched to a halt two years ago when the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck north-eastern Japan.
The disaster triggered a nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and Mashio and her family soon had to leave her home in Namie town, 20 kilometres to the north.
Japan’s worst nuclear disaster came “when our restaurant was getting on track two years after its launch,” she said.
Two of her daughters also ran a beauty salon in town, which they had to abandon.
Both businesses “had finally started to build a solid base of customers,” Mashio said.
Many residents like Mashio said they thought the evacuation was temporary, as critics accuse the government and media of initially downplaying the magnitude of the nuclear accident.
In early June 2011, the government finally acknowledged that core meltdowns had occurred at three of the plant’s six reactors, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Mashio and her family decided it was safest to leave the prefecture entirely, but quickly discovered that this meant they were not eligible for any official help with accommodation.
They have been moving from place to place ever since, dependent on opportunity and informal support networks.
“We have to move out of this place once again at the end of March,” Mashio said, referring to an abandoned apartment in Hatoyama town, 230 kilometres south-west from her home, which is due for demolition.
“This will be the 11th time. We are worn out both physically and mentally,” she said.
Her husband, who has been in temporary housing in Fukushima City, has been suffering ill health.
They have received some compensation from Tokyo Electric and usually do not have to pay rent. But they still need to buy necessities.
“I sometimes get so angry when I think about why on earth we have to go through a tough time like this,” Mashio said.
The two daughters have not been able to start a new business because they don’t know where they will be moved next.
A citizens group in Hatoyama recently found another apartment in the same town and will help them move.
“We are grateful for all the support they have given us,” she said.
Mashio and her daughters wanted to give something back, and they have been involved in some volunteer work in the community.
When the government and the media started talking more about restarting nuclear reactors, the family was concerned that their sufferings were forgotten.
“When I go to a bookstore, I see very few books about the nuclear accident these days. There used to be piles of books,” Mashio said.
In his first policy speech to parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government “will restart nuclear reactors that have been confirmed as safe.”
Japan’s 50 reactors were shut down for maintenance or repairs after the disaster and only two of them have been restarted.
Under the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party, 54 nuclear reactors had been built up in this quake-prone country since the 1960s.
“I want the government to abandon nuclear power generation,” said Shigeo Kimura, an evacuee at temporary housing in Fukushima city.
Hundreds of residents from Namie town like Kimura have been squeezed into prefabricated housing in the city. They said they feel inconvenienced and that their family members, neighbours and friends have been separated.
Of the 160,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes near the plant, 91,100 stay at temporary housing in Fukushima prefecture, local officials said.
A woman in her 60s, who declined to be named, said, “The room is small and drafty and the place is really noisy because of thin walls.”
Many of the evacuees interviewed said they did not think they would ever be able to return to their home.
In addition to high levels of radiation, “the house has been abandoned for two years. It is now infested with rats and cats,” the woman said.
That is what Mashio feared when she went back home last year.
“I did not go inside,” she said.
Instead, she measured radiation doses outside the house and shook her head when she saw higher readings.
When Mashio went back twice for a few hours each time in 2011, she picked up only a few valuables, she said.
Mashio said she was shocked when she heard some people collected many clothes, blankets and futon.
“Do they want to bring back more radiation?” she said in disbelief. “I think central and local governments should educate them.”
Takehiko Kambayashi 