Where is the townsman, who is the candidate, November 14th 14:30

A town where no one is left
Do you remember? That happened that day.
8 and a half years since then. In towns where people began to return, a mayoral election to decide the top was about to be held. What do the townspeople who have fallen apart think of their hometown now? I approached the actual situation.
(Reporter Election Project Reporter Takuya Sakurada, Fukushima Bureau Iwaki Branch Reporter Yuki Yamamoto)

Town where people disappeared due to nuclear accident

About an hour and a half by car from Fukushima City. If you look at the distant seaside, you can still clearly see how many large cranes rise.

Okuma Town, Fukushima Prefecture, where decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is progressing.
It is a town where 10,000 people have disappeared due to the accident.

In April, however, the evacuation instructions for part of the town were finally lifted and the residents were able to live again. Now that commercial facilities are being built, the infrastructure for daily living is gradually being improved. On the other hand, about 60% of the area is a “difficult to return area” where radiation is relatively high and access is still severely restricted.

(* The specific reconstruction and rehabilitation base area and intermediate storage facilities are also difficult to return areas)

As of November 1, 119 people live in the town. Only 1% of the population.

Election campaign in a town with 1% population

Under these circumstances, Mayor Toshinori Watanabe, who has been at the forefront of reconstruction since the nuclear accident, will retire only for this term, so an election will be held to decide the town's new leader. Mr. Satoshi Yoshida (63), former deputy mayor, and Mr. Koichi Suzuki (64), Motomachi assembly chairman, were nominated.

The mayor's election was held twice after the nuclear accident. At that time, evacuation instructions were still issued throughout the town. Finally, it is now possible to conduct elections in town. It seems to repeat, only 1% of the population lives in the town.

The election period is double, for the reason ...

On the other hand, nearly 99% of the townspeople still live outside the town.

Mr. Yoshida, who was running this time, also lived in Iwaki City and stayed at a supporter's house in Okuma during the election campaign. Mr. Suzuki, who lives in Koriyama City, fought for an election while sleeping at a hotel in Naraha, about 20 kilometers away from the town.

This election period is 10 days, which is twice the regular mayor's election. This is a special measure to provide voting opportunities not only in the prefecture but also in the townspeople who live in refuge throughout the country.

The two candidates started running to appeal to people living outside the town.

Candidate Yoshida "Where are the townspeople?"

Deputy Mayor Yoshida went to an area that took more than an hour from the town and tried to appeal directly to the townspeople.

However, only a few residents gather. For this reason, even street speeches can hardly be performed. I continued to drive around in search of the townspeople.

"I don't know where the townspeople are in the first place. It's really difficult because I can't communicate my thoughts."

The hard work oozed out from the words that Yoshida gave me.

Candidate Suzuki “Election postcards do not reach!”

Meanwhile, the former chairman, Mr. Suzuki. Election car has amazing specifications.

What a loudspeaker is not attached.

He stopped calling the name with a loudspeaker if he couldn't disturb the residents of other municipalities.
“I went around a temporary house where there were many townspeople immediately after the earthquake, but there are only a few people.

For this reason, what Mr. Suzuki emphasized was an election postcard with his appeal.

However, there were many postcards that returned because the destination was unknown.

“Not everyone will tell you the address of the evacuation destination,” Suzuki's wife told with a sigh.

Half of them are not going back to town

The current situation is that candidates can't meet voters even if they want to hear their voice. However, there is only one place where you can definitely meet the voters. Yes, it ’s a polling place.

We conducted an awareness survey at four polling stations in Fukushima Prefecture and received responses from 572 people.

The first question I asked was "Is there any intention of returning to town?"

More than eight years have passed since the accident, and many people have established a place of life outside the town.

“I decided to demolish the house that was in the town. How many times have I changed over the last 8 years? It is impossible to actually return to the town.”
The voice of the residents who decided not to return to town.

Standing “return difficult area”

One of the factors that stand up to the return of residents is the “difficult to return area”. Due to the relatively high radiation dose in this area, there is a “barricade” at the entrance to prevent entry and entry without permission.

In most areas, there is no prospect of cancellation.
Do the townspeople think that the evacuation orders in this area should be lifted?

"I want you to return the land where you lived and your hometown."
For those who have been deprived of their homes, it is natural that they want the place where they were born and raised to be restored.

On the other hand, nearly 40% of the respondents who answered "I do not intend to return to the town in the future" in this survey responded that "it is not necessary to expand".
"I can't help waiting without knowing when."
It is also true that there are residents who speak this way.

Decontamination waste "final disposal outside the prefecture" really?

Another thing that cannot be separated when talking about the current state of the town is the existence of an “intermediate storage facility”. The intermediate storage facility on the right side of the map on the right under the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is a facility for temporarily storing decontamination waste generated by decontamination in Fukushima Prefecture. This site includes areas where people lived before the earthquake.

The country states that storage is only “temporary” and the law stipulates that it will be “finally disposed of outside the prefecture by March 2045”. So what do the townspeople think about the place of final disposal?

What surprised me was the percentage of people who answered that they were on the grounds of an intermediate storage facility. That means that 40% of people think it is unavoidable to become a de facto final disposal site.

The country is called “final disposal outside the prefecture”, but the outline is still not visible where the “outside prefecture” is. In this survey, about 70% of the respondents answered that they actually cannot be trusted. The townspeople do not want the final disposal in their own town, but because they cannot trust what the country says, "Intermediate storage facilities may become the de facto final disposal site. I heard a voice like a halfway compliment.

What is the top priority for reconstruction ...

Even in such a difficult situation, there are residents who decided to return to their homes in the towns where evacuation orders were lifted. Building a town where people can live is indispensable for the regeneration of the town. So what do the townspeople want from the town?

Says the townspeople who return to town.
"There is no post office and no bank. You have to go to the next town to shop."
“I want to see the children running around. There ’s no such thing.”

A person who returned to town. Someone who doesn't return to town. Someone who is worried about returning. Though the feelings towards the town are various, the two of them most strongly appealed was “the importance of bonds among townspeople”.

Victory without a smile

As a result of the election campaign, Mr. Yoshida, former deputy mayor, was elected.
The turnout of the mayor election fell to a record 53%.

“The connection between the people who live far away and the town is weak. Those who return to the town, those who can't return even if they want to return, people who enter the town, and everyone can't play together unless they merge.”

There was no smile on Yoshida's face even in the first prize.

The future of the disaster area

This time, we conducted a survey of polls at our polling place with more than 500 townspeople. To be honest, I think there were some questions that I didn't want to answer. I was impressed by the fact that the woman who visited the evacuation site in Chiba Prefecture to answer the demolition of her home was answering seriously while saying, “This is the last time to come to town.”

In the spring of next year, the JR Joban Line will be fully opened, and the city will return to the city for the first time in nine years. Step by step, the town is moving forward steadily.

"Protect the townspeople"
After winning, Yoshida-san's determination was repeated.
How will you build the relationship between the townspeople and the town and lead to the regeneration of the town? A new step in Okuma is about to begin.

Election project reporter Takuya Sakurada
Joined in 2012. Election project from this summer after working for Saga and Fukushima. On the day of the cancellation of evacuation orders in Okuma Town, interviewed locally

Iwaki Branch Reporter Yuki Yamamoto
Joined in 2013. After this Matsuyama and Matsue stations, Iwaki branch office. Responsible for the area affected by the nuclear accident.