IITATE, Fukushima Prefecture--The Obon season to honor ancestors was observed here for the first time after the evacuation order, in place since the 2011 nuclear disaster, was finally lifted for most of the village in March.
Kimio Aoki, 68, and his wife, Naoko, 63, who evacuated to the nearby city of Date, prayed at a family grave on Aug. 13, laying some flowers that they had grown.
The couple has no plans to return home permanently as a mountain adjacent to their house is still to be decontaminated following the nuclear disaster.
“Some people say that the evacuation order should be lifted only after all (contaminated debris) is disposed of,” said Kimio Aoki, referring to a temporary storage area for radioactive waste located near the graveyard..
On Aug. 12, a commercial facility was opened in the center of the village in another sign of recovery from the disaster. But only 10 percent of all residents have returned to the village.
The Obon season is the mid-summer period when Japanese believe the spirits of the dead return to their hometown.