FUKUSHIMA--Normally, workers washing down a home in the city's Onami district wouldn't attract much interest, but on Oct. 18, the event even drew Japan's prime minister to Yoshiharu Suda's home.
Workers climbed onto Suda's house and washed the roof and gutters with high-pressure water sprayers in an effort to lower an elevated radiation level caused by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
They also scrubbed the outer walls with brushes, removed the soil from the surface in the garden and pulled out the trees, along with their roots.
"I want to see how much the radiation level will decline," said Suda, 61.
The startup of the Fukushima city government's decontamination program attracted Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was visiting Fukushima Prefecture for the second time since taking office in September.
Noda watched as workers turned the high-pressure water sprayers on Suda's house, the first of 62 homes that are a top priority for decontamination.
"In starting decontamination work, we have to put priorities on places where children are staying," Noda told Fukushima city government officials who accompanied him to the home.
The Onami district is designated by the municipal government as a priority area.
The city government is aiming to lower the radiation level to one microsievert or less per hour by the end of fiscal 2012 in all areas where people are residing.
The 62 households in Onami that are a priority consist of residences where surrounding radiation levels are 2.5 microsieverts or higher per hour, and where corresponding figures are 2.0 microsieverts or higher per hour and children aged 18 years old or younger or pregnant women reside.
Of the 62, six households that are in close proximity to one another have been chosen for the first group.
In addition to the 62 households, decontamination work will also be conducted on 305 other homes in the Onami district from Oct. 26. In the 305 households, however, workers will be engaged in the decontamination process only at high locations. At lower levels, such as gardens, residents and volunteers will do the work.
In the Onami district, soil that is removed from gardens will be placed in temporary storage places within the district.
Of Noda's visit on Oct. 18, Fukushima Mayor Takanori Seto said, "I explaned to the prime minister while showing the figures on a dosimeter. I think that he understood the effects of the decontamination."
Later in the day on Oct. 18, Noda participated in a study meeting of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's Upper House lawmakers, which was held in Nihonmatsu, also in Fukushima Prefecture.
The new prime minister previously visited the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant on Sept. 8, six days after taking office on Sept. 2, and also met with Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato as well as mayors of 14 municipalities.