KAWAUCHI, Fukushima Prefecture -- For the second time since they were evacuated from this disaster area, residents were allowed to return to their homes here Sept. 19 to retrieve warm belongings to see them through the winter.
KAWAUCHI, Fukushima Prefecture -- For the second time since they were evacuated from this disaster area, residents were allowed to return to their homes here Sept. 19 to retrieve warm belongings to see them through the winter.
Previously, the evacuees -- whose homes are in the no-entry zone within a 20-kilometer radius of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant -- were taken to their homes on buses. This time, they were given the choice of driving their own cars.
Officials said 227 evacuees from 92 households returned home. Some used transportation arranged by the village government to bring back winter clothes and heating equipment, but in 88 cases private cars were used.
A man, 68, and his wife, 63, visited a family cemetery close to their home, because the autumn equinox season, when many people visit graves to pray for the repose of their ancestors, is close at hand.
Tombstones toppled by the Great East Japan Earthquake and its aftershocks have still not been righted.
"Our ancestors may be in bad humor because we haven't been here since spring," his wife said.
"I hope to be back here by the spring equinox season," the man added.
Another man, 65, loaded the bed of his lightweight truck with a farm tractor and a mower. He is renting farmland in Tochigi Prefecture until he can return home permanently.
"As an evacuee, I have nothing to do. So I thought I would do more farming with my wife," he said.
Privately owned cars returning from the no-entry zone were screened for radiation at the Kawauchi municipal athletic center. Staff measured radiation levels of tires and other parts. None of the cars was deemed to require decontamination.