Emperor, Empress meet villagers in Fukushima
News On Japan via NHKReloaded -- Oct 14
The Emperor and Empress visited a village in Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday to meet residents unable to return to their homes due to radiation from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The imperial couple met and spoke with people living in temporary housing in Kawauchi Village. Nearly 100 people, some of them elderly, have returned to the village but are living in the temporary housing because their homes are within 20 kilometers of the plant.
The Emperor offered words of surprise and sympathy upon hearing from an 85-year-old woman that she had lived in 10 places outside the village since the nuclear accident in March of last year.
The Empress spoke to an 89-year-old woman and told her to take good care of herself. The Empress said she is glad the woman survived the disaster.
Earlier in the day, the imperial couple visited an elementary school in Kawauchi Village that reopened this April. They listened to an explanation from the mayor about the reconstruction process.
They then walked to a nearby area where work to remove radioactive materials began last month. They watched workers using high-pressure water sprays to clean the materials from roofs.
Only a quarter of Kawauchi's population of 3,000 has returned, despite the village office's plea for its residents to come back.
天皇皇后両陛下は13日、日帰りで福島県を訪れ、原発事故で飛散した放射性物質の除染活動を視察される。
午前9時半ごろ、両陛下は東京駅に到着し、東北新幹線で福島県へ向かわれた。
Source: NHKReloaded, FNNnewsCH
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