OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture--A handful of sleepy-looking men in uniform become energized when the store’s doors open at 6 a.m.
To the familiar greeting of “good morning” from a shop clerk, the men rush in and briskly grab their sustenance for the day. Soon, a flood of people line up in front of the cash register counters, holding sandwiches, rice balls and packages of instant ramen.
This outlet of the Lawson Inc. convenience store chain is one of its most successful branches, despite its rather unusual location. It sits just 1 kilometer from the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
“My store is not an ordinary convenience store,” said Masao Kurosawa, 41, manager of the outlet. “I want workers to relax at least when they are shopping here.”
The store, housed on the second floor of a nine-story building used as rest station, has provided a sense of normalcy for Fukushima plant workers since it opened in March last year. Some employees in the male-dominated work force even visit the store to briefly experience some female companionship.
About 6,000 workers are involved in the daily operations of decommissioning and performing other tasks at the Fukushima plant, which straddles the towns of Okuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture.
As many as 1,500 customers have visited the Lawson outlet on some days.
The convenience store opened on the grounds of the wrecked facility as part of reconstruction assistance efforts and on the request of workers there.
Before the store opens, 1,000 instant cup noodles of 40 kinds are stacked to the ceiling.
Cream puffs and other sweets are also popular among plant workers, and some customers buy three to four products at one time.
In some months, the Fukushima plant store posted the highest sales of sweets among all Lawson shops in the prefecture.
However, boxed lunches, canned drinks and magazines are not available at the outlet because of the large volume of garbage they generate. In principle, all garbage should be dealt with at the plant site.
In addition, Lawson decided not to offer magazines at the shop after Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, said “the facility--although it is a rest house for workers--stands at their workplace.”
The building has only two windows, on the seventh floor, because it is designed to block radiation from the stricken No. 1 to 3 reactors.
Radiation levels around the store are only 0.07 microsievert per hour, a level comparable to figures detected in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Store workers and shoppers do not wear protective suits.
Sachiko Sasaki, a 34-year-old part-time worker at the store, said she felt some anxiety about possible radiation exposure after she took the job.
When she mentioned her decision to work at the Fukushima facility, a friend frowned disapprovingly, saying, “Are you serious?”
Her worries disappeared after she learned during an orientation meeting that radiation levels were low at the site of the store.
With so few female workers at the plant site, many male workers who visit the convenience store tell Sasaki behind the register counter, “I came here to meet you.”
Her hourly wage is 1,500 yen ($13.17), much higher than the pay at other convenience stores in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where Sasaki lives.
She intends to save her earnings to cover future educational expenses for her 3-year-old and 1-year-old daughters.
Kurosawa, the manager, said he knew what the plant was like before the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, 2011.
On the day of the disaster, Kurosawa was managing a restaurant near reactor buildings at the plant site.
The following day, when a hydrogen explosion occurred at the No. 1 reactor building in the afternoon, Kurosawa took shelter in a quake-proof building until early the next morning.
He said some of the regulars at the restaurant are still working at the plant. He added that they now appear so exhausted that they look like different people.
When the nuclear crisis started, evacuation warnings were issued for residents around the plant. Many still cannot return to their homes in areas that still show high radiation levels.
Fukushima plant workers are allowed to engage in decommissioning work at the plant until their radiation doses reach the government safety limit.
And the decommissioning work continues around the clock.
The Lawson store is open every day except Sundays. Kurosawa works there from Monday to Saturday.
His early shift lasts from 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The late shift, including a break, covers 6 a.m. to the 7 p.m. closing time.
Three full-time workers and two part-timers operate the convenience store in shifts.
As the store’s closing time approached, the last customer of the day selected a cup noodle and cafe au lait.
After seeing off the customer, Kurosawa turned off the shop’s light, locked the entrance, and headed home to rest for his next day at the convenience store.
(This article was written by Takeshi Suzuki, Yuki Chai and Daiki Ishizuka.)