Fukushima, Japan, home of the samurai and a place of magical beauty despite the disaster that struck region 10 years ago
- Cedar-scented forests, seductive spa towns, samurai castles and villages – Fukushima has a lot to offer despite its name still evoking catastrophic images
- Two hours north of Tokyo on a bullet train, the region underwent an unprecedented decontamination process after the fallout from the nuclear reactor
It’s nearly midnight and I’m neck-deep in hot water. I can hear the Ookawa River thrashing below, its jade green rush, so bright by day, now a torrent of inky black and frothy white. In front of me, the snow-covered walls of the Ookawa valley rise up from the darkness like the wings of an enormous angel. I wish it would snow.
Moments later it does. All alone in the open-air onsen, I stand up and let big feathery snowflakes land on my warm naked skin like celestial kisses. It’s nothing short of magical.
It’s late 2019 and I’m at the Aizu Ashinomaki Hot Spring Resort and Hotel in Ookawasa, in Fukushima, Japan. Yes, that Fukushima. Ten years on from the triple disaster that struck the region on March 11, 2011 – the earthquake, tsunami and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant – the mere mention of the name still evokes the most catastrophic of images, rather than the beauty of the region.
And yet a quick online search would tell you that Fukushima is huge and, although the disaster killed and displaced thousands of residents, just 2.7 per cent of the prefecture was significantly affected by the fallout from the nuclear reactor.
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Ten years on, Fukushima nuclear disaster clean-up challenges include future natural disaster risks
Scroll a little further and you’ll read that Fukushima underwent an unprecedented decontamination process, and Aizu, about 60 miles from the coast, has radiation levels similar to those of any other city in the world.