JAPAN: Thousands of candles in Fukushima mark the first anniversary of the country's massive earthquake and tsunami

Record ID: 466125

  • Title: JAPAN: Thousands of candles in Fukushima mark the first anniversary of the country's massive earthquake and tsunami
  • Date: 11th March 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 35-YEAR-OLD KAYOKO MIYAJIMA, SAYING: "There's just been too much that's happened. I still have friends who are unaccounted for, so there's still parts that I can't quite put a period to. But as tomorrow is indeed a year, I do want to somehow wrap up some of those loosewithin myself." PEOPLE PLACING CANDLES ON GROUND CANDLE READING "3/11" BEING PLACED ON GROUND (NIGHT SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 31-YEAR-OLD RUMIKO MIZUNO SAYING: "I just want the radiation to be reduced. I also want people to get rid of stereotypes that Fukushima equals radiation. We live here, this is where our lives our, so I don't want people to look at us that way." CANDLES ARRANGED TO SPELL OUT "PRAY 3.11" IN CHINESE CHARACTERS MIZUNO STANDING IN FRONT OF PERIOD CANDLES ON GROUND PEOPLE WALKING BY CANDLES FAMILY PRAYING BESIDE CANDLES FAMILY PLACING CANDLES VARIOUS OF CHILD PLACING CANDLES (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 43-YEAR-OLD YASUSHI SUZUKI SAYING: "The nuclear plant has had a big effect. But we still have to live our lives. I want the nuclear plant to go away but I also have to think seriously about how to live." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLACING CANDLES ON GROUND CANDLE BEING PLACED ON GROUND VARIOUS OF CANDLES SPELL OUT "PRAY 3.11" WHILE MONKS CHANT
  • Embargoed: 26th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVAFD5GBWFGYSPZRTCQ280VUK0M
  • Story Text: Hundreds of residents of the city of Fukushima, only 30 kilometres (18 miles) away from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, held a candlelight memorial ceremony on Saturday (March 10) to mark the first anniversary of Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami.
    The fire for the candles was brought in a manner similar to the Olympic flame, carried on the back of monks for almost 600 kilometres (370 miles) from Kobe, which itself was devastated by the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake.
    First writing their wishes and hopes on cups before putting their candles into them, hundred of participants then began spelling out "Pray 3.11" in giant characters.
    With Sunday marking a year from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's north-eastern coast, killing nearly 16,000 and leaving nearly 3,300 missing, some are looking to use it as a time to mentally wrap up loose ends.
    "There's just been too much that's happened. I still have friends who are unaccounted for, so there's still parts that I can't quite put a period to. But as tomorrow is indeed a year, I do want to somehow wrap up some of those loosewithin myself," said 35-year-old Kayoko Miyajima.
    After the quake and tsunami struck, three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant melted down and radiation spewed widely through north eastern Japan, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate from near the plant.
    While those living in Iwaki are not inside the forced evacuation zone, those such as 31-year-old Rumiko Mizuno say they still suffer from the same stereotypes.
    Their only hope is that the nuclear crisis that still plagues Fukushima will reach some sort of end before a second anniversary.
    "I just want the radiation to be reduced. I also want people to get rid of stereotypes that Fukushima equals radiation. We live here, this is where our lives our, so I don't want people to look at us that way," Mizuno explained.
    While the government declared that the plant's reactors had reached a stable state of "cold shutdown" in December, its safe dismantling and the clean-up of the surrounding area the size of Luxembourg will take more than three decades at a yet incalculable costs using technologies yet to be developed.
    Many of the thousands of cups and messages written during the event however, in addition to condolences, were hopeful.
    With messages such as "hope", "good luck Fukushima" and "hope for recovery" in abundance, 43-year-old father Yasushi Suzuki explained that while he was worried about the nuclear plant it was also necessary to move forward with one's own life.
    "The nuclear plant has had a big effect. But we still have to live our lives. I want the nuclear plant to go away but I also have to think seriously about how to live," he said.
    On Sunday (March 11) at 0246 local time, the moment the devastating quake hit, Japan will mark the first anniversary of what became the world's most costly natural disaster and worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl with a moment of silence and plethora of local ceremonies.
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