New Year despair for Japan's nuclear refugees

TOKYO —


As most of Japan prepares to ring in the New Year at the end of a traumatic 2011, refugees from the country’s nuclear crisis relocated far from home say they have nothing to celebrate.

All over the country families will gather for a midnight trip to a shrine, many donning traditional kimono for the centerpiece of several days of celebration during one of Japan’s most important festivals.

But for the many tens of thousands of people forced to flee when reactors at Fukushima Daiichi began spewing radiation, festivities are a long way from their thoughts.

Many of the 1,000 or so refugees holed-up in a 36-story Tokyo tower block say their mood will be altogether downbeat, after a devastating year which saw their hometowns engulfed by the worst nuclear crisis in a generation.

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http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/new-year-despair-for-japans-nuclear-refugees



Kimiko~yori