TOMIOKA, Fukushima Prefecture--Cherry trees were lit up in a district renowned for a breathtaking view of cherry blossoms here on April 1, the first time since the area was declared off-limits following the 2011 nuclear disaster.
The illumination event coincided with the government’s lifting of the evacuation order for Tomioka earlier in the day, except for the section remaining in the heavily contaminated “difficult-to-return-zone.”
“We are determined to continue with this kind of event so that our town will regain its bustle and move forward,” said Takeshi Owada, a representative of a group of Tomioka residents that prepared the illumination.
About 60 people, mostly from Tomioka, gathered as bulbs installed on some 150 cherry blossom trees were turned on in the Yo no Mori district.
While most of the district remains in the difficult-to-return-zone, these cherry trees stood in the section where the evacuation order was lifted on April 1. The illumination event is designed to welcome returnees and reinvigorate the town hard-hit by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The lights will be on until the cherry blossoms are expected to be at their peak in the middle of this month.
The Yo no Mori district is home to a large number of cherry blossom trees known as the “tunnel of flowers,” extending some 2.4 kilometers. Each spring, a dazzling showcase of cherry blossoms attracted more than 100,000 visitors before the nuclear disaster.
But all the 16,000 residents of the town evacuated when the triple meltdown occurred at the nuclear complex six years ago, closing the district off to the public.