---The current situation of the disaster-stricken areas---The recovery housing, decontamination effort, and some “small” supporters

Today, I would like to talk about the requirements needed to move into recovery housing and the current status of Okuma town and Naraha town.
I will also introduce some “little” supporters.

[Requirements to move into recovery houses]
In my blog dated May 25, 2015, I talked about the procedure to move into housing. In addition to this, I will talk a little more in detail about the national government’s required conditions to move into recovery housing. As you can imagine, many evacuees want to know the room layouts and the size of windows, or would like to see the housing units in person before they move in. This would enable them to take time to plan on the furniture, curtains, and lighting, and would
encourage hope and dreams about their new lives. However, the national government doesn’t make this possible and forces the evacuees to follow their rules. The evacuees never see the actual rooms until they receive the house keys. They never even get to choose which house they move into. The evacuees are told to move in wherever the local government assigns them. Even for same-sized houses, the rent varies in ten different amounts, depending on the evacuees’ income. The lowest rent is 8,000 yen per month (US$65), and there are elevator
fees and other surcharges.

I talked to someone who started moving into one of the recovery houses in Okuma town. The recovery houses were completed in May, and those who won the lottery received a notice. The orientation meeting was held on June 9th. The rent notice was sent to each evacuee, and the
house keys were given to those who paid three-months’ rent up front. They were told to move in within twenty days. Unfortunately, some evacuees live on a pension and don't have three-months’ rent on hand. Also, though they have to move within twenty days, some old people
don’t have cars and live far away from the recovery houses, so it is both physically and financially difficult for them to transport their belongings in time. The evacuees are given just twenty days to move into their new houses, even though the houses do not come equipped
with necessary items such as lights, a gas stove, or curtains. This is an inconsiderate way of treating disaster victims.

Usually, when looking for a new house, one discusses with the realtor about rent prices. Also, the decision whether or not to move in is usually made after first touring the inside of the actual house and seeing it with one’s own eyes. But the Fukushima evacuees have to first make the decision whether or not to move in, and only then are they notified how much the rent will be, which is decided depending on their income. I have never heard of something like this before. How could the government force such an ordeal on them?  However, it seems to me that none of the evacuees are in a position where they have the option to oppose the government’s policies.

Nuclear power plants were promoted as part of Japan’s national agenda. After the nuclear accident that occurred in Fukushima in 2011, a vast expanse of land was contaminated with radiation.  Countless innocent and good-natured people were forced to evacuate from the area. Those evacuees say “We didn’t evacuate. We were driven away from our own land, leaving our perfectly good houses behind. We are not even sure where we can settle down to live our lives after four and a half years. We have moved 7 or 8 times so far, and it cost us a lot of money each time. We are separated from close friends and family members, and we are so exhausted.”

[Status of Naraha town]
In Naraha town, before the official declaration of evacuees’ return to home, evacuees were allowed a trial stay in their own homes from April 6, 2015 through July 5, 2015. However, I was told that no one went back and stayed in their homes due to their concern about the radiation level.

One of the people I talked to share the following details: “Some big company built refabricated housing for thousands of workers who worked on radiation decontamination. One site can hold 300 to 500 workers. They built some of those homes. The workers came from all over Japan. Since the neighboring town, Tomioka is too radioactive to live in, they also built the same housing units for Tomioka’s 3,000 workers who are staying in Naraha town as well. There are traffic jams every day because of those workers commuting from Tomioka to Naraha. After an incident involving a woman being chased by one of those workers, residents started a local patrol, but I don’t feel safe even in my own home. They built the pre-fab houses for the decontamination workers so quickly. But for us Naraha evacuees, the recovery houses are still in the planning stage, and construction has not yet started. There are no carpenters available to repair or rebuild the existing houses; there are no building supplies. Building contractors see
financial uncertainty for repairing the disaster victims’ houses, and they are attracted by the higher pay for construction in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. So for the carpenters, the choice is clear. As a result, the evacuees are left without homes or any means
for building one.”

[Support from a six-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy]
I would like to share this heart-warming story that I encountered recently. I received an email message on my phone about ten days ago. It was from a young Japanese housewife who lives in England. She had learned about the situation of many people in Fukushima, and she
wanted to do something to help them. She was planning to get together with her six-year-old daughter and her four-year-old son to write messages for each evacuee on little packages of sweets. She wanted to know what type of sweets the senior evacuees could eat, and if it was
okay for her to send 10 to 20 sets weighing a total of 2 kg (4 lb). I was delighted to receive such an offer.

Thinking about this mother working with her daughter and son to write messages and draw pictures for the Fukushima evacuees moved me to tears. I couldn’t think of a more precious gift than this. I talked to the leader of our residents’ association right way. He was also very happy to hear about the offer. He knew the Fukushima evacuees would appreciate any small gift, even candy. The letter from this young girl and boy would be such an encouragement for them.

To tell the truth, continually working on this mission to support the Fukushima evacuees wears me out physically and mentally. Whenever I hear about the inhumane way the national government treats the disaster victims as well as the situation in which the evacuees have
been left behind and forgotten, I feel helpless and deeply distressed. But this message from the young mother and her children healed me, and re-energized me. I sent a thank-you message back to them saying “I’ll never give up! Little boy and girl, I will always keep moving forward
as long as I live. Stay in touch!”

I’m not asking for anything grand. Just as the example of this young mother in England shows, a caring heart and a kind act can help save people in despair and give them the power to confront their daily struggles. If you have any children or grandchildren around you, please share this story. Please consider reaching out to the Fukushima evacuees with your support.

[We need more concerned individuals who care]

There are many Fukushima evacuees who are in bad health as a result of their unstable lives. Even a small donation of simple daily

People in affected area continue to endure horrible living situations

[Life in temporary housing units]

Today I would like to bring your attention to housing issues in the affected areas. Not just humans, but all living creatures - including fish, birds, plants, insects, and countless others - all need a place to live and feel safe (in other words, a home to call one’s own).

Please imagine for a moment that you are living in one of the temporary housing units – that this is the place that you currently call “home.”

When you are at home, you need a certain space where you can relax, right? Can you live comfortably in a space with no windows, no sunlight, no air flow despite uncomfortable levels of humidity, no privacy to the extent that you can hear everything that your neighbors are saying and vice versa? Well, that is the life of people in temporary housing units in the affected area. You always have to pay close attention to potential noise that might bother your neighbors.  This may mean you have to refrain from listening to music, playing musical instruments, and you have to keep the TV volume and your conversational voice at the lowest possible level. Every time your kids make noise your neighbors might complain, you can never use a loud voice, and you are constantly thinking of what the neighbors might think….This describes life in a temporary housing unit.

In most cases, even if you store furniture and bedding in closets, you will still not have sufficient space for everyone to sit down and relax around the table and enjoy family time. At night, you do not have space to sleep without having to worry about being stepped on by someone. The deepest concern of all is the fact that you do not know how long you can stay there. This is a house where you are not allowed to stay indefinitely - you do not know when you might receive a notice to leave. You cannot even find an alternative house, so you just spend every day in fear. You want to leave your temporary housing unit, but then you would lose your compensation. If you find a new place (outside the affected area) by changing your residential registration (something similar to voting registration in the U.S.), you will lose your current compensation. Thus affected people cannot leave their temporary house, nor plan their futures.

What do you think about this situation? If your government asked you to live in this same state for a long period of time and you were actually placed in this situation, how would you feel? Don’t you think that everyone needs a certain quality of living environment; as well as relaxing and sufficient space to live?

Ladies and gentlemen, you may not be able to identify with this type of situation. However, the affected people of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster have been in these horrible circumstances for more than four years. Please allow me to review something I’ve written about in the past.

A living space with an area of only four and a half tatami mats (roughly 80ft²) sometimes only includes a single window.  Once you add in basic furniture and appliances, you have barely enough space to spread out futons (Japanese foldable bedding.) The floor is so close to the ground that it invites high humidity, mold, and extreme coldness, which then adds additional weight to comforters. From fall to spring, it is common to have water dripping from the ceiling in these residences due to excess humidity, which moistens the walls and floors. In these houses, wiping the floor is a necessary daily task. Some units have broken floors, as well as being drafty and cold. Residents sometimes stuff pieces of newspaper into gaps in an effort to stop the drafts and make their lives more comfortable. There is not even enough space in these homes to hang up clothes to dry.   

Residents have almost no privacy: people who walk outside can see people inside, sometimes their eyes meet unintentionally. Some residents cannot sleep well: the wall between you and your next-door neighbors is so thin that you can tell exactly what they are doing. The majority of temporary housing units and school buildings are prefabs. The material in prefabs do not have adequate insulation.

[The voice of residents at temporary housing units]

Affected people sometimes say that living in the temporary housing units makes them feel stifled and like they’re going crazy.

One said, “I usually stay out of my unit.” I asked her, “Do you go to work somewhere?” to which she replied, “No, I cannot keep up with my mental health in a four and a half-tatami mat space (80ft²). That is why I walk outside every day. Although I have been looking for a job, when I mention my age (67 years old), they do not want to hire me….”

Some residents say, “Without a fixed home address, I cannot find a job,” or “A stable address is the key to go forward. Without one, my family members are still scattered and we cannot even find a place to store the remains of my mother and my husband. We are not yet able to decide where to build our family tomb.”

Still others say, “The recovery housing units are yet to be built. Also the number of the units are limited. They will not be open to everyone. Those who lost their houses due to the tsunami and nuclear accidents get higher priority. Not only that, once those individuals get a unit, they will need to buy their own curtains, ceiling lights, stovetops, make monthly rent payments, etc….a fairly large budget is necessary.”

In Funehiki, Tamura City, there are four temporary housing apartments where people from Miyakoji mainly live, as well as some from the towns of Okuma, Namie, Futaba and Tokiwa. “I’ve just heard that they are building a recovery housing apartment in Funehiki and it is supposed to be completed sometime after next fall. More than a year ahead!” said an evacuee.

I still remember something I heard from one of them; “If only our government had said that they would buy out our properties and would find an alternative place for us to live, elsewhere in Japan.  We would have appreciated it so much. Had they taken such a measure four years ago, those new communities would have been flourishing and the residents could have been contributing to the nation’s economy by now….”

However, in reality, affected area survivors have been forced to find a place to live on their own and no government funding is provided. After losing their homes in the disasters, they have been offered no replacement homes and no jobs to generate enough income to make ends meet. “How can we survive like this?” say affected people lamenting over the prolonged suffering.

Members of the younger generations have already left their home towns, searching for a new life elsewhere. Thus temporary housing units are full of elderly people who have nowhere else to go and no family with which to live. They cannot  get in to recovery housing apartments, are separated from people belonging to younger generations, and are thus forced to live a lonely life; for them to “live independently” sounds very harsh. They are doing their best to support each other, living among others stuck in the same situation and sharing similar experiences.

It would be wonderful if you could also help them out by sending some grocery items for their daily necessities.      

[Please offer your support]

Please show your support for those who have lost their ability to live on their own and are lost in despair.  Even the smallest support would be a big help. In your package, you can send your thoughts and well-wishes to let them know that they are never forgotten, that you are thinking of their health, or you can even send some grocery items; this will truly seem like a treasure chest to the recipient. Our society has forgotten them, but you can help save them, even if it’s by sending just one care package out to save a single person. If you are interested in sending some packages, please contact me.

“Let’s make happiness together!”

Contact:  Momoko Fukuoka

       Mobile: f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp　

           Phone: 080-5547-8675　

           FAX　０４７－３４６－８６７５

 

The current status of disaster recovery housing for the Fukushima evacuees

Japan has four distinct seasons. Various kinds of flowers bloom at different times of the year, and the arrival of spring and fall are marked by the whispers of soothing and chilly breezes, respectively. Each year, we celebrate the changing of the seasons and the joy that each season brings. However, I have been shocked by the global climate change taking place in more recent years.

Today, I would like to talk about the current situation of the disaster recovery housing units in Fukushima. Essentially, the Japanese government’s goal is to decontaminate the evacuees’ houses, so that they can eventually return home. I get the impression that as a result, the government is not taking a very active role in
establishing evacuee recovery housing units. As we are going into the fifth year after the earthquake and tsunami, I have been angered and saddened by the inconceivable and unacceptable situation in Fukushima.
I have to say that the way the government treats the evacuees is both senseless and atrocious. Below are some evacuees’ comments that I received in May of 2015.

[Voices of the evacuees]

“The Japanese government is planning to have the evacuees in all towns and cities return to their original homes by March of 2016. But then the newspaper that I read a couple of days ago said that they will
postpone this plan by a year, so that might happen instead. They change their policy every year, without having a long-term plan. When the Japanese government decides that we have to leave the temporary
housing in March 2016, they will inform the prefectural government, then each town and city will also be notified.”

“There used to be seven thousand people living in Naraha town. Now they are scattered at temporary housing in different places, including thirteen houses in Iwaki city and one in Aizuwakamatsu. The Japanese
government plans to have the evacuees eventually return to their own homes, so they have no intention of building any recovery housing units outside of the town of Naraha. They said that they would build
fifty two houses in Naraha, but that promise has yet to be realized. Those eligible to live in the recovery housing units include tsunami victims and those currently without any housing. For three months from April 6th through July 5th, people will live in the recovery housing units for a trial period. After this period, the Japanese  government will probably begin preparations for announcing the return of the evacuees.”

“Three thousand people used to live in Kawauchi village before the accident. There are three categories of compensation for the evacuees from Kawauchi:

    1. People who lived within a 30km (19mile) radius from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and   

        whose compensation for mental damages was terminated in August 2012
    2. People whose compensation for mental damages will be terminated in September 2015
    3. People who continue to receive compensation for mental damages after September 2015, and who are  

        not able to live in their homes

At Shimo Kawauchi temporary housing in Kawauchi village, there are fifty households that are categorized as compensation type 2 and 3. Twenty five recovery housing units have been completed and  will be ready for move-in beginning June 1st .  Shimo Kawauchi’s neighborhood council has been disbanded. Fifteen of the twenty five recovery housing units will be occupied by people from Shimo Kawauchi, and the rest will be taken by people from different neighborhoods. The government has no plan to build any more recovery houses there.
However, we are allowed to stay at the temporary houses until March 2016, and then we have to choose whether or not we want to move in to one of the recovery houses or go back to our own homes. You have to
pay a rent to live in the recovery houses, and you have to pay for lighting equipment, curtains, and gas stoves too. Some of the curtains come in non-standard measurements. I heard that these moving expenses could add up to around 500,000 Yen ($4,000 as of May 2015). The single-story houses come in two types (A and B) and there is also a two-story configuration.  You don’t get to pick which one you move into.”

“The Fukushima prefectural government manages the recovery housing units, so they decide who moves in to which houses. We submitted a request for them to place evacuees from the same neighborhood together, but it was rejected. The recovery houses will be shared between four different towns and villages. Each community has different customs and ways of life. Also, the amount of compensation money varies depending on the community. People will be facing various hardships, as well as living among strangers, separated from their
friends and fellow town folk.”

“There are seven people in my family. We are currently living in three separate temporary houses, since we have a big family. My family includes my father (87 years old, has emphysema), my husband (ill-health), myself (ill-health), my daughter (cerebral palsy, learning disability), my son (who gave up college and is working), my
second son (middle school), and my third son (elementary school). We have lived in the temporary houses and supported each other since the accident, but we had a family meeting and decided to move all seven of us into two of the recovery housing units. The kids say that they would be happy just to have rooms and windows. They won’t have to worry about someone complaining about the TV noise anymore. They will be able to lie around without having anyone step on their feet.   My mother died 5 years ago.  Her mortuary tablet is currently sitting on top of the bookshelf.  I would like to have enough space to be able to buy a proper Buddhist altar as soon as possible. ..... Since we couldn't all fit in just one recovery unit, we decided to rent two of them."

“I applied for a recovery housing unit which is supposed to be completed by the end of May. I will hear the lottery result by then. If I win, there will be an orientation meeting. The rent will be set depending on the occupants’ income. I will have to pay three months’ rent to move in. And finally the keys will be given to me at the local government office. Then I have to move in within twenty days.”

“It’s difficult to find a place to live these days. You need a guarantor in order to apply for the recovery house, and I was lucky to have one in my case. My recovery house is in a secluded area far from stores and hospitals. If I died alone, no one would notice. But I’m thankful for having friends living right at my doorstep. I think that
it would be very hard for old people to get one of the recovery houses. There is just so much work involved, such as going to the government office and attending information briefings. Some of the older people I know have already given up.”

“There are so many rules that come with the recovery houses. You are not allowed to use nails on the walls. You have to restore everything to the original state when you move out. Curtains are non-standard. There are light fixtures, but you have to pay your own money for the lamps and lighting.”

[We need more considerate care]

Some people lost their homes in the tsunami, some had to leave their houses behind because of the nuclear disaster. They have been harmed both mentally and physically , and have  been struggling financially for the past four and a half years. I always wonder why the Japanese government doesn’t show more concern for these people. How come they never listen to their sadness and pain?

I would like to ask those who read this blog for your support for the Fukushima evacuees, and ask you to spread the word so that more people recognize the real situation in Fukushima.

We are asking for donations to help support Fukushima evacuees. They are still in need of daily necessities such as food and financial support. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I would like to introduce you to the reality of the evacuation zones.

Thank you very much, Momoko Fukuoka,.

Four years in the devastated areas --- many suffering from depression

It has been four years since the nuclear accident occurred in Fukushima. Babies were born, and many lives were destroyed during this long period of time. People in the disaster-stricken areas have been left behind, forced to live in unsatisfactory health conditions; many are separated from their families. However, no one has taken any responsibility for the accident, or taken any initiative to rebuild their communities. These communities are too radioactive for humans to live in, but the Japanese government is still planning to send those people back to their hometowns. This decision would be “hell on earth” for the returning residents. “I wish there hadn’t been the nuclear plants!” was the outcry of one of Iidate villagers from the NHK TV documentary.

I demand that the Japanese government prioritize the critical situation of the Fukushima residents over the construction of the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo. People in Fukushima say that their voices have not been heard by their government representatives, including the prime minister. I beseech everyone to take another look at the current status of Fukushima, and re-ignite the “fire in your heart” and recognize the struggle of these people.

 

[Phone calls from Fukushima evacuees]

We are now entering  the fifth year since the accident and we have been receiving more phone calls from the people who have been affected by the disaster. Some of them express anger, sadness, and agony. Some are voices of hopelessness and desperation. I would like to share a few of them here. (names and places have been omitted for privacy.)

 

“Though we have contractors to re-build our new house, there are now many more rules and regulations. Also, during the course of rebuilding our homes, the shortage of construction materials causes many undesirable revisions and changes to the original designs. This causes many delays and we don’t know when we can move in.”

 

“We requested they build a prefabricated community center for handicapped individuals, which included a bathroom to be part of the construction, but now they are saying that they can’t build it.”

 

Usually customers come first in a good business relationship, but to my surprise, it’s opposite in Fukushima. How would you feel about this?

 

“We don’t want to go back to my town because the place is highly radioactive. The government has told us that by the end of March 2016, they will cut the compensation for mental distress  caused by evacuation life. Rice-farming is still prohibited in my town, but they say it’s ok to grow vegetables. How can we eat such things? The younger generation will never move back. How can we live without our future generation—our families? The most painful thing is that we all are separated from our family members.”

 

“There used to be four schools in Odaka, but they are all closed now. Both my home and my evacuation house have radiation levels  of 0.3 micro Sieverts per hour. They say that the town residents will be able to return to Odaka by April 2016, and that some commercial facility will be built. But I don’t think we can live there. The evacuees that I know refuse to return to Odaka. Simply, it is unsafe for humans to live there. Because of the radiation issue, Odaka town is now under the jurisdiction of the Regional Environment Office. So the town itself doesn’t even have the right to speak on behalf of the community. Some people joke that only wild boars will come to this commercial facility, since no humans can live.”

 

“Joban-do, highway route 6 is open, but Okuma town is right by the crippled nuclear plants.”

 

[Depression caused by loneliness and anxiety]

Three to four people living in small one-bedroom apartments, in horrible evacuation compounds. Days pass without hope or any future prospects. Financial hardships, being surrounded by strangers, and living in an unfamiliar place drives people to depression. After spending months and years with the unbearable pains inflicted upon the Fukushima evacuees, it is not hard to imagine that even people with generally positive attitudes will eventually suffer from depression.

 

I wonder how I can save those depressed people or how I can bring them back to a normal life. As a mere housewife, all I can do is to let the word out, and ask you to be friends of the Fukushima evacuees.

 

[Supporting each other for indispensable life]

When I was forty three, I was diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer. The doctors could not predict my remaining life expectancy. I learned the importance of appreciating every minute, and every second of life. It was at this point when I realized how much I cherished every form of life, mine and all others'. It would be a shame for anyone if they could not appreciate this gift—their one and only given life.

 

I feel like that there are a lot of unreasonable things going on in the world. Everyone is born a desire for success in life, but we also have to learn to control it. I also think that everyone is born with love and compassion for others. Living with this loving heart is the key to happiness in life.

 

I am a housewife who doesn’t have any authority or influence. If you notice that I have said something inappropriate on my blog, I apologize for it.

 

[Please donate]

We are asking for donation in order to support Fukushima evacuees. They are still in need of daily necessities such as food and financial support. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I would like to introduce you to the actual evacuation zones. Thank you very much, Momoko Fukuoka.

 

Letters from the affected people – “Please learn our reality” --

The reality of Fukushima – Momoko Fukuoka’s voice　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

 

Happy New Year!

I’ve already received many letters and pictures from people who had had been affected by the tsunami and the earthquake. They are in the fourth year living their “temporary life” with no future prospects, which is very sad and heart-wrenching.

This is the year’s first sunrise photographed near the temporary housing unit. It might not be clear to viewers, but this photo actually tells me a lot of things. I think of the sorrow of the families whose members had to be separated, especially during the New Year’s celebration. However, the New Year’s gorgeous sunrise seems to be telling us to hang in there. I would like to energize others just like the way this sunrise does. In order for me to do so, I would like to ask you for a helping hand. Thank you.

I would like to talk about people in Fukushima as usual. People sent me some letters and photos describing their never-changing reality. I have their permission to share them with you, so you can learn more about their lives.

 

 [A letter from Namie cho]

“This is the fourth New Year’s day that we spent outside our own hometown. I appreciate that you are still thinking of us even after four years. Since our normal life was taken away, we’ve been asking ourselves ‘who are we' and ‘where are we'. Then we realize that we are not able to do things that we used to take for granted.

I grew up in a fishing town called Ukedo. When I was a child, I used to love watching the ferries moving off the coast, and dream about riding one of them.  The whole seaport along with the entire community was washed away by the tsunami, leaving just seven fishing boats out of 130 intact. If the tsunami was the only disaster, we would have been able to fight back and stand on our own two feet again. But we had to face the invisible enemy, radiation. The news about the disaster-related deaths keeps on coming. We often see the recovery effort of Sanriku community in Miyagi prefecture on TV, but not in our own town. Luckily our house survived because it was built on a hill far enough from the coast. Sometimes we go home and spend a couple of hours cleaning our house. The road to our house is covered with weeds. Our land has many holes dug by boars and our house has new occupants, wild animals.  I heard the nuclear plant workers say that we cannot go back to our hometown of Namie for 30 years. However, the Japanese government wants to lift the evacuation order. I know that young people will never go back. They don’t want to live in a town with life-threatening issues. I cannot explain the whole range of our issues in a single letter. Let me stop here for now.”

“Our hometown is no longer the same. We have made an album from which I enclose some of the pictures. These may not be the kind of pictures that you want to see on a New Year’s day, but we would like you to know that this is our reality. These were actually taken two years ago and nothing has changed since. “

 “Central area in Namie cho: Huge rocks were moved by Tsunami and destroyed a car.”

 

 

 

 “More than 120 ships were brought onto high ground by the Tsunami. This is one of them. My house was washed away. My older brother and sister are missing, their remains are yet to be found.”

 

We still have piles of debirs all around. Do you see some trees on the left of this picture, that is the ocean behind them.

 

 [A gentleman who lost his wife in Tsunami and lives alone in a temporary housing unit]

“My house was washed away by the Tsunami. My wife died and her bones are with me here. I cannot place her bones in our family tomb because of the nuclear power plant. All I can do is to wipe her picture with a warm hand towel every morning. I am always with her remains. Even when I have meals, I always talk to her. This year we had our golden anniversary. Since my wife always wanted to go to Nikko for our anniversary, I took her picture and remains to Nikko. I saw many couples there, and it made me miss my wife very much.”

 [A lady who lives in a subsidized apartment in Iidate Village]

”People often suggest that I relocate elsewhere and stay away from radiation. But there is a reason why we cannot leave our hometown. The government does not buy out our land, or houses. Not only that, they also tell us that we have to take care of our property ourselves. We have to keep our house, rice paddies and vegetable fields in good shape, so that we can go back any time. That is why we cannot leave here. We need to stay in a commuting distance to our home. We have to maintain our property until we die.”

 [A surprising fact]

I was so surprised to learn that those who were affected by the disaster cannot leave their hometown, not only due to their homesickness but also because of the government’s policy expecting them to maintain their property themselves. Actually our government intends to have them go back to their homes despite its uninhabitable condition due to high radiation. They have been commuting to their homes where the radiation level allows them to stay only for four hours. They are doing this to maintain their rice paddies and vegetable fields. No one knows when they can go back to live permanently. It could be 30 years from now. Those people cannot contradict the government’s statements. The people are just enduring the current situation and the fear of radiation. I assume that the government’s intentions are to terminate the compensation payment for the evacuees, once they go back to their homes.

Don’t you think that the reality of Fukushima is too ugly, dirty and harsh? Don’t you think that we are not well-informed of the evacuees’ lives? We need to pay serious attention to Fukushima and learn about the people. I sincerely ask you for your heart-warming support for people in Fukushima. They are still in need of daily consumable goods such as food and clothing in addition to financial aid.

 

[My advice to regain the power for keep living] (No. 13)

Look for something positive in your day and when you wake up in the morning write down the things you like, or things that make you happy. You live, move, eat, and go to the bathroom regularly. You have the warmth of the sun, the wind, the rain, and the sound of crickets, etc. These are examples of some pieces of happiness. Once you write yours down, enjoy them as much as possible. You many not notice any of them at the beginning but, as you keep writing, you will see that we are surrounded by many happy things.

 

 [List of things that you can donate]

Blanket, hand and leg warmers, masks, adult diapers, toilet papers, detergent, water, rice, spices, dry foods, canned foods, snacks, tea, fruits, vegetables: these are very much needed. Many people are experiencing financial difficulty. I will let you know where to send those support goods.

Please contact me between 10:00～17:30 (Japan time) at 011-81-80-5547-8675(mobile) or f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp.

　If the line is busy, please try again later.

Thank you,

Momoko Fukushima