Fukushima evacuee collects memories of those who can never return

[yuiyoshida]

Hidenori Konno, second from right, shows his collection of testimonies on April 9 in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture. They were provided by some of those who were forced to flee their homes due to the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The other four people are, from right, Yoshimi Saito, Kazuko Konno, Yoichi Konno and Taka Saito. (Mikio Kano)


By MIKIO KANO/ Staff Writer

MOTOMIYA, Fukushima Prefecture--A retired social welfare official who was forced to flee his home in the Tsushima district of the town of Namie after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has found a new mission in life, to record the thoughts of those who once lived there and knew it in happier times.

Hidenori Konno, 66, who lived in the peaceful rural area northwest of the plant, can never return to his hometown because the area is designated a difficult-to-return zone by the government.

After the nuclear accident, triggered by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Konno, a former official of the Fukushima Ward Council on Social Welfare, evacuated to Motomiya, also in Fukushima Prefecture, where he now lives. It was there that he came up with the idea.

“Though there is no prospect for returning, I wanted to preserve the memories of the people who lived there (for future generations).” So he began to visit elderly people in May 2013 to interview them.

more..http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201406290007