Woman tells stories of loss and lessons learned from Fukushima disaster to students March 11, 2023 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version Yoko Shoji speaks during an interview after giving a talk before university students and others at the Tochigi Prefectural Government headquarters in Utsunomiya, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama) UTSUNOMIYA -- Yoko Shoji hasn't been home in 12 years, since the day she had to flee in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. And she will never be able to return home, because it is gone; demolished for an interim contaminated waste site. The 75-year-old is now telling her story to students from beyond Fukushima Prefecture who did not experience the quake, tsunami and nuclear accident, hoping to keep the memory of it all alive. On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, followed by the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Twelve years on, there are more and more young people with no lived experience of the disasters コピーブランド服  and fewer people who show interest or the willingness to learn. And so, areas hit by the disasters have been putting greater effort into passing on what it was really like, as well as lessons learned. Since autumn 2022 ブランドコピー品  the Fukushima Prefectural Government has been dispatching "storytellers" to areas outside the prefecture to share their experiences of the 2011 disasters. Shoji is one such storyteller. She evacuated to the Fukushima Prefecture city of Aizuwakamatsu from the prefectural town of Okuma following the nuclear accident. On Feb. 20 this year, Shoji spoke before some 30 people at the Tochigi Prefectural Government headquarters in Utsunomiya, including university students doing disaster prevention work. She said, "I want to know what's going to happen to the town of Okuma. I don't even know what standards there are to be able to say that the town has recovered." Yoko Shoji speaks about her experiences before university students and others at the Tochigi Prefectural Government headquarters in Utsunomiya コピーブランド時計  on Feb. 20, 2023. An image of her home in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Okuma is seen in the background. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama) All of Okuma, one of two municipalities hosting the Fukushima Daiichi plant, was forced to evacuate following the nuclear disaster. Though evacuation orders had been lifted in parts of the town by June 2022 最高ブランドコピーN級品  including its center, Shoji's and her parents' homes, located about 3 kilometers from the plant, were within the interim storage site for soil and waste generated by decontamination work. The land was sold to the central government, and the buildings were torn down. After the nuclear accident, Shoji moved from place to place in Fukushima Prefecture, finally arriving in Aizuwakamatsu about a month later. She spoke about her life over the past 12 years, as she struggled with an uncertain future but pushed on コピー時計  finding solace in making plush toys. She posed questions, and said, "I used to think it (Fukushima Daiichi) was a great place that sent electric power to Tokyo, but nuclear plants that can't be controlled by humans shouldn't be made." The students who listened to her talk were in elementary school in 2011. They were astonished to find that they knew "hardly anything" about the unprecedented nuclear disaster, which continues to affect the lives of people today, even though it happened in the neighboring prefecture. A student commented, "Life as an evacuee and other things were all beyond my imagination." Shoji has talked about her experiences since 2014, at elementary and junior high schools, and other places in Fukushima Prefecture, in the hope that people will not forget about those still living under evacuation. She feels that more young people today have no memory from the time of the disasters. She said, "I think there aren't many opportunities to encounter news on the earthquake and nuclear accident if you're outside Fukushima Prefecture. It was hard to think about how I should tell the story so those listening could understand." Yoko Shoji speaks about her experiences before university students and others at the Tochigi Prefectural Government headquarters Utsunomiya, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama) According to Fukushima Prefecture, there were about 27,000 evacuees living in and outside the prefecture as of February this year. Recovery is ongoing, and reputational damage to the area and its products is a challenge that needs to be addressed, but the 10-year mark, which put a spotlight on the affected areas, has gone by, and the Tokyo Olympics billed as the "disaster recovery Games" are over. Travel to and from the prefecture has also been limited amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and prefectural officials are concerned that there are fewer opportunities for people to learn about the disaster-hit areas. Meanwhile, the aging of "storytellers" who can talk about their experiences, and fostering successors is another issue. Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori has built networks of disaster storytelling groups and supported the development of successor speakers. He says that "recovery cannot be achieved without going through a long battle while slowing the fading of memories." Shoji is the third such storyteller to be sent outside the prefecture. From fiscal 2023, Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered great damage from the tsunami, will boost a subsidy system to support groups working to pass down disaster-related memories. Iwate Prefecture is also set to promote cultivating and encouraging interaction among storytellers. Reconstruction minister Hiromichi Watanabe has also spoken of a project starting in fiscal 2023 examining the knowhow necessary to make storytelling efforts sustainable. (Japanese original by Mina Isogai, Fukushima Bureau) Font Size SML Print Go to The Mainichi Home Page Related Articles What's happening at Fukushima plant 12 years after meltdown? Victims of 2011 Fukushima nuke accident appeal high court ruling on ex-TEPCO execs Prolonged evacuation takes its toll in Fukushima Pref. with many disaster-related deaths Fukushima Pref. students thank evacuation host city before moving back to hometown