Suiting up in protective gear and entering the Fukushima Exclusion Zone was a profound experience for those who returned from Japan this week after visiting friends evacuated from Bathurst’s sister city of Ohkuma following the nuclear accident in the region five years ago.
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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster followed the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region.
The local delegation was made up of mayor Gary Rush, councillor Warren Aubin, general manager David Sherley, community members Norm Mann, Dr Teo Todorova, Ardin Beech and interpreter Fudeko Reekie.
The exclusion zone has been off limits to all but a handful of people since the reactor’s meltdown.
Cr Aubin said it was an experience that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
On arrival at the exclusion zone, members of the delegation stepped into radiation suits and were handed a Geiger counter so they could continually monitor the level of radiation as they moved around the abandoned city.
“It was a surreal feeling – one of those things that hits you like a brick,” Cr Aubin said.
“There was something so awful about it, so creepy, that I’m glad we were there during the daylight.
“The streets were empty, the houses overgrown with weeds, some had been smashed by the tsunami.
“We looked in a window and saw a pair of reading glasses sitting on a bench and kids’ drawings on the walls.
“Kids’ bikes were lying in the yards and cars were still parked on the high school oval where the students had been attending graduation ceremonies.
“It was sombre, sad – a sight that will never leave me.
“Everything was frozen exactly how it was on that day. That haunts me – absolutely.”
It was Cr Aubin’s first visit to Japan.
His parents were part of the first delegation to visit Ohkuma in 1991. He said that was why he asked if he could go on this trip.
In addition to travelling into the exclusion zone, the local delegation visited the residents of Ohkuma who were relocated to the mountain town of Aizu.
They attended an official dinner, visited the local school and saw some sights.
Cr Aubin said one night during the delegation’s visit, they went to a traditional Japanese bar.
He had a beer with an elderly gentleman who had lived in Ohkuma before the tsunami and nuclear accident.
“He had tears running down his face while he was talking to me about all he had lost,” Cr Aubin said.
“He can’t claim insurance because his house is still standing, but he will never go back to it.
“That poor man cried and cried because he can’t go home. That night spent talking to him will never leave me.”
Cr Aubin said his visit to the abandoned city of Ohkuma has changed him. It has also changed his views on nuclear power.
“Now I am way against it,” he said.
“If they want to try nuclear power in Australia I will be the first one tying myself to a tree.
“The nuclear accident was so harrowing for these people.
“There are 48 nuclear power plants in earthquake-prone Japan. I think after Fukushima, Japan will embrace a different way of generating electricity.
“The Japanese people will never again think of nuclear energy as safe.”
Following the time he spent with the people of Ohkuma, Cr Aubin said it was more important than ever to continue the sister city relationship.
He said that by nature the Japanese people are reserved and shy, but when they saw their friends from Bathurst they were so happy their faces lit up.
“They made us feel so welcome,” Cr Aubin said.
He already has plans to return to Japan for a holiday.