Japan reopens beaches hit by 2011 disaster

TOKYO — Japan has reopened three beaches in regions devastated by the 2011 tsunami and resulting Fukushima nuclear disaster after years of reconstruction efforts, officials said Monday.

Local officials in Fukushima said they hoped the opening of the Haragamaobama beach would help change perceptions of the region, which has become inextricably linked with the 2011 disaster.

One of the reopened waterfronts is Haragamaobama beach in Fukushima prefecture, about 40 kilometers north of the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant.

The beach in the city of Soma is the closest to the plant of four beaches that the prefecture has reopened.

“I’m delighted, because life in Soma had always been associated with the sea before the disaster,” said Hiroyuki Ito, secretary general of the Soma Tourism Association.

Water quality inspection has not detected radioactive materials in the offshore seawater for years, and reopening the beach was only delayed while infrastructure for bathers was being built, Mr. Ito said.

“I used to play on the beach as a child every day… but I couldn’t let my daughter have the same experience, as she was a sixth grader” when the disaster hit the region, he said.

“Even now, if you Google search images for ‘Fukushima,’ the top search result shows a lot of photos of the nuclear plant and other negative images… but our everyday lives here are returning back to normal,” he added.

“We want people in foreign countries to know that Soma is a place to visit,” he said, noting that the association uploaded the image of the opening of the beach Saturday on its Twitter account @ somakankokyokai.