Photo/Illutration A video posted on social media shows a man fooling around in a school gymnasium he has broken into. (From TikTok)

FUKUSHIMA—Police are investigating a report of a foreign man walking around a school building no longer in use due to the 2011 nuclear disaster as a trespassing case, in a video posted to TikTok. 

The video has caused an uproar among local officials and vigilance is being heightened to prevent copycats. 

The town of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, where the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, had to evacuate about 7,000 residents due to the accident.

Since the evacuation order was lifted in 2020, people are now free to enter some parts of Futaba, including the center of the town.

However, only about 100 residents have returned to the town, and there are still few signs of life.

But in July this year, the town office received a report about a suspicious video being posted on social networking sites.

The pertinent video showed what appeared to be a foreign man in a yellow protective suit walking around inside an elementary school building, where students’ bags and school supplies have been left behind.

The man was posing and touching books in the school library and computers in the classroom.

Officials believe that the location is an old building of the town-run Futaba Minami Elementary School, and that the man was not alone when breaking into the building.

The town office has planned to preserve the school and convert it to one of the relics of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami tragedy.

The school was apparently not the only target of videos.

In another video posted under the same account, the man broke into a reception room of the former town hall building, which is no longer in use, as well as the town assembly chairman’s office.

Both the elementary school and the town hall are located in areas that are no longer under evacuation orders. But the buildings themselves are off-limits.

The town notified the prefectural police on July 16, asking to strengthen patrols.

As of Aug. 1, the pertinent video was still available for viewing. It showed a classroom footage with English subtitles, describing that everything stopped on March 11, 2011.

Other videos were posted under the same account, in which the man ransacked a hospital and a private home in the town that are still in the same condition as immediately after the disaster.

Masakazu Sakuma, who heads the Futaba Police Station, said house demolitions have begun in the areas affected by the nuclear disaster, and returning evacuees are beginning to reside in their homes, so burglaries and break-ins are on the decline.

But, he cautioned, “If the locations featured in the video attract attention as a landmark, copycat crimes may increase.”

On Aug. 1, 18 people, including police officers and town officials as well as local crime prevention officials, inspected the locks and interior conditions of the elementary school and the former town hall.

They confirmed that the front door of the school building has been locked, but they agreed to strengthen measures to their response to suspicious persons in the future.

According to police, even if it is just a prank, the act of breaking in is charged as trespassing and may be punishable by imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 100,000 yen ($670).

Yasuharu Hashimoto, who heads the town’s administration division, is outraged for another reason.

“It is an unforgivable act,” he said. “The area is safe for residents to return to, but the man is stirring up anxiety by wearing a mask and a protective suit.”

Radiation levels in the vicinity of the elementary school have dropped to almost the pre-disaster level.

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