Woman tells stories of loss and lessons learned from Fukushima disaster to students

Yoko Shoji speaks during an interview after giving a talk before university students and others at the Tochigi Prefectural Government headquarters in Utsunomiya, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama)

UTSUNOMIYA—Yoko Shoji hasn’t been home in 12 years, since the day she had to flee in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. And she will never be able to return home, because it is gone; demolished for an interim contaminated waste site. The 75-year-old is now telling her story to students from beyond Fukushima Prefecture who did not experience the quake, tsunami and nuclear accident, hoping to keep the memory of it all alive.