“Decommissioning is expected to take a very long time. With both locals and out-of-towners gathering here at this surfing competition, we would like to provide a thorough explanation to everyone,” he said.
With the decommissioning of the damaged power plant expected to take up to 40 years to complete, it will take a generation before Japan and the world can move past the fallout from the nuclear disaster.
Meanwhile, residents in the coastal area of Fukushima are doing all they can to ensure that their towns keep their reputation above water and not fall back into the economic slump they experienced in the disaster’s aftermath.
For Nahara and its surfers, they hope the surfing competition can become an annual event. They are looking at hosting the contest again next year, saying they hope that by then, the stigma associated with Fukushima and the wastewater discharge would have faded.