Photo/Illutration In the aftermath of the nuclear disaster, the shopping street where the nuclear power promotion signboard is displayed is deserted in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 25, 2011. The signboard was removed in 2016. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

"Haha naru Kokyo Futaba" (Mother hometown Futaba), a collection of poems published last year, contains a piece titled "Hoshano" (Radiation).

It goes to the effect: "You have defiled the land/ You have defiled the sea/ You have crept into the woods and forests, alleyways and gardens/ And you continue to lie low, never showing yourself/ Who are you?"

The author is Rokuro Saito, 84, of the town of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture.

When Saito was patrolling an earthquake-damaged area 11 years ago, he was swept away by a tsunami.

He narrowly escaped death, but then the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant forced the entire town into evacuation.

His poem continues, "You even robbed our kids of their playgrounds/ And yet you are still here/ Strutting around with obnoxious arrogance."

After teaching Japanese in high school for 38 years, Saito served as the local ward mayor for more than 10 years.

He recalled being visited frequently then by employees of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), who boasted, "There are five layers of walls safely protecting (the plant)."

His comment in verse: "Safety myth/ Co-prosperity/ Relations of trust/ All crumbled in a flash/ Leaving behind this blighted world."

He suffered from chronic insomnia while staying at an evacuation center. In his dreams, he met his former students and fellow residents who had perished in the tsunami.

"Nights are the worst/ Agonizing/ There were too many things I couldn't stop thinking about--my community, my family, my home, my hometown."

Saito is currently living in a facility in the city of Iwaki. I initially interviewed him by exchanging letters.

"At the evacuation center, I felt hopelessly homesick," he wrote.

But every letter he sent me was filled with his words of concern for people who have been scattered about, making me acutely aware of his intense attachment to Futaba, his hometown.

I recently visited him there and brought all his letters.

Near his home, a bridge was being rebuilt. Electrical, water and plumbing work was in progress in anticipation of the return of residents in June.

"I want to go home/ But I can't/ How maddening/ How intense this inner conflict."

For people who will be able to return, as well as those who won't be able to, their troubles run deep.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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