Aizu-wakamatsu: Tsuruga Castle and Aizu Sake Museum

As simple as it sounds, one of the most important parts of our stay in Fukushima was to spend time enjoying the region from a tourist's perspective. Since the nuclear disaster, tourism has been slow to recover - both domestic and foreign tourists have been hesitant to spend time in the region. The uncertainty has snowballed into harmful rumours and hearsay. Even on the flight over to Japan, when we told the flight attendants that we were going to Fukushima, they warned us not to eat the rice or drink the water.

We spent a day checking out the sights in Aizu-wakamatsu, a city with a rich samurai history. To learn about the wars and warriors of the past, we visited Tsuruga Castle, one of the most famous tourist attractions in Tohoku. The castle that stands today is actually a reconstruction - the original castle was damaged by an earthquake in 1611, then destroyed by the Meiji government after incessant warfare in 1868. It was completely rebuilt in 1965, and now contains a museum detailing the history of the Aizu region.

Tsuruga Castle: a treasure of the Aizu region

View from the top of the castle grounds, covered in snow

View of Aizu-wakamatsu city, tucked beneath the hills

A 'samurai' at the castle. He let me try on his hat.

Another important part of Aizu's history is its long tradition of rice wine or sake brewing - the cold climate, pure spring water and rice are ideal for sake production. In Aizu-wakamatsu there are numerous local sake breweries, and we were able to visit the Miyaizumi brewery, which also contains a museum - the Aizu Sake Museum. Our tour guide was a jolly man who taught us drinking games and sang the praises of the sake, advising us to sample everything but to try not to get drunk! He also told us about the Miyaizumi brewery's struggles after the disaster - people had been warned not to eat or drink anything within a 100km zone of the condemned nuclear plant; unfortunately the brewery is located 97.8km away. Almost all of the brewery's orders were cancelled in the year following the disaster, however, they remain hopeful for this season's brew.

Students entering the Aizu Sake Museum

With my Australian friend Emilee: sampling the sake!

The brewery's spring water tap

Sake production is done in the Winter, as cold temperatures are necessary for best results

If you're thinking about going to Japan, put Fukushima on your itinerary. Places like Aizu-wakamatsu are unique hotspots of Japan's natural beauty, history and culture. If you've already been to Japan's larger, more well-known cities, Fukushima's cities and towns can offer a completely different experience, and one that I found enriching. By spending money on accommodation, tourist attractions, and souvenirs in Fukushima, you can make a small but significant contribution to the local economy, which so desperately needs boosting. More than anything, visiting Fukushima as a tourist helps to give the people hope, that someday the region might be able to return back to the way it was before the disaster.

Temporary Housing for Disaster Victims in Aizu-wakamatsu

After the nuclear disaster, the city of Aizu-wakamatsu in Fukushima became home to thousands of evacuees from Okuma town, the location of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. All 11,515 residents had to be hastily evacuated, eventually placed in temporary housing complexes. These temporary housing complexes are an example of lessons learned from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake: after this disaster many elderly people were left isolated and alone, and died as a result. To avoid this situation happening again, this time whole communities of temporary housing have been set up around Japan, in an effort to keep both the people and the spirit of their former towns alive.

As Okuma was a farming town, a sense of community is particularly important for its residents. A representative of the town spoke to us about what happened on that day in March 2011. Most of the town were in the process of preparing the rice paddies for spring. When the earthquake hit, it caused the paddies to move 'like a wave'. The residents gathered at the local shrine, and were told by firefighters that a nuclear plant explosion had occurred, and they would need to evacuate immediately. They were taken by buses to evacuation centres such as schools and hotels, where they would stay for the next few months. By July 2011, the temporary housing complex at Aizu-wakamatsu was ready - a block of 80 houses, to hold about 170 people.

The accommodation is far from ideal. Standing in austere rows, each unit is identical. People's whole lives have been reduced to a number in a housing block - A3, C1. Small attempts to personalize each unit are visible; some pot plants outside doors, a hanging flower basket. Particularly poignant is the mural of hearts that has been painted on the wall surrounding the complex, in an attempt to brighten the place up.

It is a new environment for the people. The Aizu climate is harsh, and Okuma residents, who used to live on the coast, have to contend with the heavy snow. Work is difficult to find. The majority of those of a working age commute long distances, spending the weeknights in their town of employment, returning to the temporary housing complex for the weekends. It is a disruptive lifestyle, transient and uncertain. While 'safe zones' in Okuma are being uncovered, it will be at least a decade before the majority of residents can return; maybe longer until the soil is decontaminated and able to be farmed again. For many residents, they will never return home in their lifetime.

On the day we visited the Aizu-wakamatsu temporary housing complex, residents were involved in a meeting with TEPCO, undergoing negotiations about their current situation and compensation. Currently, they receive ¥100,000 a month (NZD1372) from the government for psychological damage. Considering all these residents have lost, it is a small price for the government to pay. The fight for their future will surely continue for years to come.

Kizuna Project: An Overview

Kizuna Project group at Tsuruga Castle, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture

Despite an unexpected tornado (Auckland), earthquake and tsunami (Japan), I made it safely to Japan and back, and had ten of the most action-packed days of my life, along with 105 students from Australia and New Zealand.

First we spent two nights in Tokyo for orientation. We visited the Ikebukuro Life Safety Learning Centre and used their earthquake simulator room to experience what different types of earthquakes actually feel like. Next up was a lecture at Meiji University, detailing the March 11 disaster and reconstruction efforts.

We then rode the Tohoku shinkansen to Shin-Shirakawa station in Fukushima prefecture, watching the landscape slowly change from urban high rises to a snowy countryside. From the station, we got on a bus and headed to Minamiaizu, a town nestled in the mountains, buried under a metre of fresh snow. We spent the next 3 nights at a ski resort there, called Resort Inn Daikura.

At Minamiaizu we visited the mayor's office and learned about the effects of the disaster on the town. We were taken to a rice production hut, and witnessed the inspection of local rice for radiation levels. Following this was a lecture on the safety management of agricultural products in Fukushima prefecture. The mood was lightened with a trip to Tajima Junior High School, where we spent an afternoon doing origami and calligraphy with the students.

The next day we took a scenic train to nearby Aizuwakamatsu city. At Aizuwakamatsu, we visited temporary housing for residents of Okuma town, which is uninhabitable because of the nuclear disaster. An evacuee shared her story of the accident, and her experience in evacuation shelters and temporary accommodation. That afternoon we visited two of the city's tourist attractions, Tsuruga Castle and the Aizu Sake Brewery Museum.

We got back on the shinkansen in the morning and headed to Nagoya, to participate in a homestay programme for 2 nights. My homestay family were located in Gifu prefecture, and they took me to a place to make soba noodles, the Agigawa Dam, a museum and art gallery.

At the conclusion of the homestay programme we went to Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, and spent a morning doing disaster preparation activities with students there. Then it was back to Tokyo, where we went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give a final presentation about our findings from the project. Finally it was time to head to Narita airport and fly home.

During the Kizuna Project I learned so much about the earthquake and nuclear disaster. In Aizu, while the physical damage caused by the disaster was minimal, economic damage has crippled the region. While reconstructing buildings and cities is relatively straightforward, rebuilding a reputation is not so easy: it's difficult to shake the link between 'Fukushima' and 'radiation'.

I'm going to write some more detailed posts about my experiences in Fukushima, but hopefully this gives some idea of what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks. The Aizu region is truly beautiful, and I hope I get the chance to go back and explore Fukushima.