Fukushima Aims to Lure Young People with New Industries

March 10, 2018

Fukushima- Fukushima Prefecture aims to attract young people with new industries that will help realize a society without dependence on nuclear power, Masao Uchibori, governor of the northeastern Japan prefecture, said in an interview.

Some 50,000 Fukushima residents remain evacuees seven years after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Holding Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

"By eventually reviving areas where still entry is basically prohibited due to high radiation levels near the plant, I want to make Fukushima a home where residents can live with a smile," the governor said.

"The prefecture has been aggressively introducing renewable energy in order to become a society that doesn't depend on nuclear power," he added.

On the situation in which the population of Fukushima, particularly in the severely afflicted coastal region, is declining fast, Uchibori said he aims to raise the prefecture's fertility rate to at least 2.0.

When asked if he has any concrete idea for luring young people in the coastal region, Uchibori expressed willingness to restore ordinary living conditions in areas where evacuation advisories have already been lifted, pointing out that education, medical services and places to work are especially important for them.

"In addition, we will create top-class new industries in Japan as far as nuclear reactor decommissioning, robots and renewable energy are concerned," the governor stressed.

By spring 2021, when the postdisaster reconstruction period set by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ends, his prefecture plans to carry out a project to build a robot technology cluster in the coastal region, Uchibori said.

The governor also said he hopes to revive the J-Village national soccer training center, which was used as a key base for dealing with the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis, as a hub for soccer and rugby.

"I want to show the progress of reconstruction efforts in Fukushima to people in Japan and abroad when the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are held," he said. Jiji Press