The businesses of Fukushima that never recovered [pt4]

Futaba is a town in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 April 2020, the town had an actual population of zero, although since 2017, the official registered population was 6,093 in 2,301 households. The total area of the town is 51.42 square kilometres (19.85 sq mi).

Futaba was severely affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Besides sustaining considerable damage from the earthquake and the tsunami (which devastated the coastal area), the entire population of the town was evacuated en masse on the morning of March 12 as it is well within the 20 km (12 mi) exclusion radius around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

On March 28, 2013, the central government rezoned the town into two areas according to level of radiation: in the first, people were free to go in and out but not allowed to stay overnight; in the second, all entry was forbidden because of elevated radiation levels that were not expected to go down within five years after the accident. However, only 4 percent of the town area zone was opened to daytime return of residents, and the town remained uninhabitable.

As of 2017, the Japanese government is leading a cleanup of the town, aiming for 11 percent to be livable by spring 2022.

This CD and video game store was an absolute gem of a find – a true time capsule into 2011 and the movies that were popular at this time, and the games consoles that were seen as the latest technology.

Another nice find was this Chinese restaurant

Since you’re here…

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If you are planning or thinking about a trip to the zone, please check out our trips to Ukraine in 2023 and if you still have unanswered questions, feel free to get in touch!

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