The epidemic forces Fukushima’s Hope program to switch to digital technology

As with many tourism programs around the world, COVID-19 is hindering the Hope Tourism project covering the areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and the collapse of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Project participants are concerned about a missed opportunity to raise awareness of lessons learned and information about reconstruction efforts, especially since the tenth anniversary of disasters next year. New ways to tour, such as organizing live broadcasts, are being discussed.

Project leaders believe it is their duty to keep a memory of disasters.

“The best way to get people to understand how the area was affected is to go to them and try it out for themselves,” said Takaki Kano, 50, Deputy Secretary-General to Machizukuri Nami. The organization organizes tours of Hope Tourism in the town of Nami, one of the disaster affected areas in Fukushima Prefecture.

The association provides guides and tours in the affected areas with groups of children and university students. However, since February, these rounds have been canceled one after the other, and the association has suspended them altogether from March to late May.

The association launched tours in 2018 and directed about 100 to 140 groups annually. It provides a place for dialogue with the city’s residents and directs visitors through a local primary school that was severely affected by the earthquake caused by the earthquake and where many abandoned homes are demolished after the evacuation of residents after the disaster.

Kano, who is from the neighboring town of Kawamata and ran a cram school in Tokyo, returned to his hometown after the disasters and helped with reconstruction efforts. He became a city employee in November 2012.

But he later discovered that after the tsunami and nuclear accident, Kawamata’s population decreased and many of the returning population were elderly.

“It was a microcosm of Japan’s future problems,” he said.

Kanno joined Machizukuri Namie in 2018 and served as a link between the tour participants and the locals.

However, the ongoing epidemic posed a number of challenges.

“I am afraid that you will remember the memory of the earthquake and the nuclear accident if the number of visits to disaster areas continues to decrease,” Kano said.

He is now entrusting his hopes for online tourism hope initiatives.

The association is considering providing online video clips to deepen learning and understanding of disaster affected areas and share the voices of the population.

The association is also studying cooperation with schools. “We want to make her touch the hearts of children. Kanoo said:” If they can’t visit Fukushima now, we’ll want to create something that motivates them to come and visit after graduation. “

Looking to the Internet to share information about reconstruction efforts is spreading across the province amid the epidemic. This is the mission of Norio Kimura, 54, who has been evacuated from Okuma town to Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture due to the nuclear disaster. For example, he converted a tour planned for May 6 into a Zoom conference.

Kimura broadcast live from where his house was located in the coastal Okuma area and talked about the situation at the time of the earthquake and tsunami. About 60 people from inside and outside the province participated.

“I felt the presence of onlookers,” Kimura said: “This motivates me to continue to carry out these tasks for all people who cannot come here.”

This year, the Fukushima University International Exchange Center postponed a short-term study program inviting foreign students to disaster areas. Instead, students posted social media preservation photos to share the region’s current status and show their reconstruction efforts.

William McMichael, deputy director of the Exchange Center, said that canceling the program was regrettable, but he would do his best to support the region after the epidemic receded.

Toshiya Hashimoto, a professor of tourism at Rikkyo University and an expert in disaster prevention education, said tourism of hope “is of great importance in the reconstruction of disaster-affected areas.” He has conducted field studies throughout Fukushima Prefecture, including cases where unfounded rumors have hampered reconstruction efforts.

Hashimoto said that even if the coronavirus makes it difficult to carry out tours, maintaining contact with the local community is essential.

He explained that “the tours allow the participants to better understand what the region is going through.” For victims, talking about experiences is an important process of “psychological reconstruction” as well.

Regarding canceling and postponing tours, Hashimoto said: “To maintain interest in disaster-stricken areas, it is important to think about things that can be done – such as broadcasting online – and to encourage onlookers to come after the pandemic is over.”

This section includes topics and issues covered by Fukushima Minbo, the largest newspaper in the prefecture. The original article was published on May 24.

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