Fukushima Update: Japan Offering Nuclear Disaster Zone as Tourist Attraction

Fukushima Update: Japan Offering Nuclear Disaster Zone as Tourist Attraction
Google Street View now opens up Fukushima evacuation zones for online tours, explored by an Asahi article published Sept. 5, 2013. Google Street View
Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Breaking News Reporter
|Updated:

Japanese officials are using the site of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, damaged during the destructive March 2011 earthquake, as a sightseeing attraction, according to a report.

Local government tour guides are sending buses of people into the area, claiming that the contamination levels are low enough, according to MailOnline.

Considered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in Ukraine 25 years ago, three of the power plant’s six reactors exploded in the 2011 quake and released intense radioactivity, forcing the outlying area to be evacuated.

But a tour organizer, Yusuke Kato, was quoted as saying that the contamination levels are “low” in the abandoned site.

Kato said that when people see the desolate area for the first time from a bus, “At first, they say unbelievable.”

A former Fukushima resident, Kenichi Bamba, said that he has come to Fukushima a few times to remember what it was like. “Actually I’ve come here several times but still… I cannot say anything. Just sad. Just sad,” he said.

FILE - This aerial file photo taken in Aug. 2013, shows No 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 and 6 reactors, from bottom to top, at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Futaba town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Eyeing dozens of aging reactors at home and hundreds of others worldwide that eventually need to be retired, Japanese industry sees a profitable market for decommissioning expertise. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File)
FILE - This aerial file photo taken in Aug. 2013, shows No 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 and 6 reactors, from bottom to top, at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Futaba town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Eyeing dozens of aging reactors at home and hundreds of others worldwide that eventually need to be retired, Japanese industry sees a profitable market for decommissioning expertise. AP Photo/Kyodo News, File
Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Breaking News Reporter
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter who covers a range of topics, including politics, U.S., and health news. A father of two, Jack grew up in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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