[What was the population before the earthquake, and what is the current population?]

Eleven thousand five hundred five people lived in Okuma Town before the earthquake, and there are currently about 10,000 people recorded on the Basic Resident Register. Nearly 600 people live in the town, including people who have returned or newly moved in.

In addition, about 1,000 people live in Okuma Town, including those without residence certificates, especially those working in the nuclear power plant.

[How do you provide information to residents who are evacuating outside the prefecture?]

In Okuma Town, we send PR magazines to townspeople twice a month. We also spread information via social media like Facebook and Instagram and through community groups outside the town.

[Okuma Town today]

In April 2019, The government lifted the evacuation order for the first time for the Okawara Nakayashiki district in the southwestern part of Okuma Town. We built the town hall, houses, and places to meet.

In April, the Manabiya Yumenomori educational facility was opened in the Okawara district as an integrated facility for elementary and junior high school children ages 0 to 15.

In addition, the government lifted another evacuation order in June of last year's 2022, and the center of the old town is now undergoing new urban development. We are also working very hard to revive various essential life functions, such as commercial and residential buildings, and to create a bustling commercial area.

The Ono Hospital, the core hospital in Hamadori in front of Okuma Station before the earthquake, has been inactive since the disaster. Still, a prefectural investigative committee recently announced that the hospital will reopen in FY 2029.

Although it is still five or six years away, we would like to ask the town to open the hospital as soon as possible, as medical and nursing care facilities are essential for the townspeople's lives.

[Where do you see Okuma Town going regarding future reconstruction?]

It is going according to the town reconstruction plan, which outlines the basic guidelines for the town, including these two principles: stable living in evacuation centers and Okuma Town and creating an environment where people can choose to return home and where people from outside the town want to visit.

Okuma Town evacuated at the first sign of the earthquake. Hence, the main focus is to encourage evacuees to return. Still, many people have been under the evacuation order for a long time. They are finding it difficult to return, so it is difficult to do so immediately. Nevertheless, we still allow them to relocate to get more people to live in the town.

We want to create an environment where the people who have returned to their hometowns and those who have moved can work together to build a new town.

[What initiatives are being taken regarding institutions and relocation?]

First, it is necessary to create a comfortable environment where people can live, whether they return or relocate. Supermarkets and other convenient facilities are essential, as are hospitals, nursing care facilities, and industry and workplaces.

Under these circumstances, we would like to encourage people who were initially evacuated from the town to return and live the way they used to in Okuma or for those who are moving to the city to come with the expectations that they can use their roles, skills, and knowledge in the development of the new town.

There are natural differences in backgrounds in some areas, such as strong ties with the original administrative district, former townspeople and newcomers, but even so, I hope we can all work together as peers who care about Okuma Town to develop the new town.

In this sense, we are also developing places to live and various housing-related assistance schemes to encourage people to return or relocate.

In addition, we are trying our best to create a new living environment by attracting commercial facilities and developing industrial exchange facilities.

Regarding housing development, as mentioned earlier, when the evacuation order was lifted in FY 2019, the government developed housing in the Okawara district. Now, 50 houses are being developed this year for returning and relocated residents to be used as rental housing in the Specified Reconstruction and Revitalization Base Areas, where the evacuation order was lifted last year.

We are also planning to open industrial exchange facilities and commercial facilities by next winter in the area west of Ono Station on the JR Joban Line, which used to be the heart of the town.

[What is an Incubation Center, one of the initiatives?]

This facility opened last year, and we are currently interviewing in one of the Incubation Center's rooms. The Incubation Center supports entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs, such as future entrepreneurs in a venture company, with co-working spaces, rental offices, various meeting rooms, and a software function that includes mentoring and other advisory tasks for entrepreneurs.

As you can see, before the earthquake, Ono Elementary School was renovated into an Incubation Center and opened last year.

The Incubation is aimed at new industries, such as drones and robotics; the facilities are operated to fuse new and cutting-edge industries with the pre-disaster atmosphere while retaining the old and new, or new and cutting-edge industries with the earthquake-era atmosphere.

[What do you do about the aging out-of-prefecture evacuees / returning residents outside the prefecture?]

More and more people who have evacuated and live outside the prefecture are becoming old, and there are more than a few people who have returned who are elderly. It is important to communicate information properly, which would have been difficult before the earthquake, as people would talk about various things amongst themselves, such as well-wishers. Still, I hope we can ensure that information on the situation is appropriately shared within the community.

I also moved to Hamadori this April, an area severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami. When I actually put myself in this place, I realized some things. For example, it is not so inconvenient in the areas closest to me. Many of those who evacuated have concerns about radiation. Still, in my daily life in these areas, there are surprisingly few situations where I have to worry about such things.

In addition, and this is probably the biggest one, is that we are starting a new town development, and this is an area where people have not been able to live for more than ten years because of the earthquake, so we are developing the land from scratch, building new roads, attracting new commercial facilities, and building houses. It is a significant change to see and experience the reconstruction of the area as it is being newly developed right before my eyes.

Okuma Town once became an uninhabitable district 12 years ago because of the earthquake and nuclear disaster, and all the residents had to evacuate. We are making steady progress in creating an environment where people can return to their hometowns, building a better living environment, and providing them with the option of returning to their hometown in Okuma, where they used to live, or a stable life in their current location.