海角大神

For Toru Takeda, the best and worst parts of life in Yonezawa are the same: snow. Located in the mountains 150 miles north of Tokyo, the city typically lies under a few feet every winter. It snows so much that many streets in Yonezawa are equipped with sprinklers that spray warm underground water to keep them clear.

Mr. Takeda is still getting used to the sheer amount of snow and the inconveniences that come with it. Train delays. Slow traffic. Shoveling. It doesn鈥檛 snow nearly as much in Fukushima City, his聽hometown, an hour-long drive away in good weather.

But snow has its benefits when it melts. 鈥淭he soil here is rich because the snow melts slowly,鈥澛燭akeda says one morning at a diner in downtown Yonezawa. He鈥檚 certain that the gradual thaw makes the fruits and vegetables grown in the region some of the best in Japan. Taking a sip of coffee, he adds solemnly, 鈥淭he water and soil in Fukushima [Prefecture] is still contaminated.鈥�

It鈥檚 been almost seven years since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the world鈥檚 worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The cleanup is projected to cost $200 billion and take up to 40 years. Yet already many of the area鈥檚 160,000 evacuees have started to return.

The Japanese government says it鈥檚 safe, but Takeda isn鈥檛 convinced. His faith in authority was shattered by the botched response to the meltdown. Today, he remains suspicious of everything from regulatory agencies to utility companies, to say nothing of and, of course, nuclear power. Whether the government is able to regain Takeda鈥檚 trust 鈥� and the trust of thousands of others like him 鈥� is an important test of its ability to revive the cities and towns of Fukushima.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe the government anymore,鈥� Takeda says, speaking for himself, his wife and daughter, and about 20 other evacuees he knows who have refused to leave Yonezawa. 鈥淚鈥檒l do anything and everything I can to make sure we can stay,鈥� he declares. That includes going to court.

Man on a mission

It all started last March, when the Fukushima prefectural government ended unconditional housing subsidies to nearly 27,000 people who left areas not designated as mandatory evacuation zones 鈥� including聽Takeda and many others in Yonezawa.聽Faced with the choice of returning to areas they fear are still unsafe or paying rent many can鈥檛 afford, they鈥檝e chosen neither. Instead, they鈥檝e stayed in their apartments and refused to pay rent. The local public housing agency tolerated this for a while. Then, in September, it filed an eviction lawsuit against the so-called voluntary evacuees, who quickly hired a team of lawyers in response.

鈥淭he Japanese government and Tepco caused the disaster,鈥� Takeda says, referring to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant. 鈥淭hey should have to pay.鈥�

Since moving to Yonezawa in April 2011, Takeda, a 77-year-old retired high school English teacher, has emerged as the de facto leader of the city鈥檚 evacuee community. He organizes social gatherings and frequently meets with local government officials. He and his wife even set up a learning center in their small, three-room apartment for evacuee children. The center closed after two years, and now Takeda spends most of his time on the lawsuit. He does everything from fundraising to meeting with lawyers.

鈥淭he government hates me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f not for me then the evacuees would have already gone back.鈥�

While the lawsuit in Yonezawa continues, some victims have already found redress. In October, a district court in Fukushima ruled that the Japanese government and Tepco must pay damages totaling $4.4 million to about 2,900 people. It was the third case in which a court found the company negligent in not preventing the meltdown.聽

鈥業t breeds distrust鈥�

Yonezawa, which lies 60 miles northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, was once home to as many as 3,900 evacuees from Fukushima. There are fewer than 500 now left, according to government figures. Some have returned home, either out of financial necessity or because they believe it鈥檚 safe, but many have refused. In by the Fukushima government, 80 percent of voluntary evacuees living in other parts of Japan said they had no intention of going back.

The government has worked hard to assuage any lingering fears.聽But Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist at聽Greenpeace, says officials have played down the potential health risks because of the pressure they feel to put a positive spin on the situation. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaching, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to deliver on聽聽that the Fukushima cleanup effort is 鈥渦nder control.鈥�

鈥淗aving zones where people can鈥檛 live is politically unacceptable for the government,鈥� Mr. Burnie says. 鈥淚t creates the impression that a nuclear disaster can destroy whole communities for a long time.鈥�

As the government rushes to revitalize Fukushima, it may run the risk of deepening public distrust, diminishing the respect for authority that is deeply rooted in Japanese society. A 2017 Pew found that 57 percent of Japanese have at least some trust in the national government to act in the country鈥檚 best interests, though just 6 percent have a lot of trust in national leaders.

Timothy Jorgenson, an associate professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University, wrote in a 2016聽聽that one of the government鈥檚 mistakes was its decision to increase the maximum limit of radiation exposure from 1 microsievert to 20 microsieverts per year. (Microsieverts measure the effects of low-level radiation.)

鈥淭o the Japanese people, this raising of the annual safety limit from one to 20 mSv appears like the government is backpedaling on its commitment to safety,鈥� Dr. Jorgenson wrote. 鈥淭his is the problem with moving regulatory dose limits after the fact to accommodate inconvenient circumstances;聽it breeds distrust.鈥�

Jorgenson wrote that the government would be better off to just explain what the health risks are at various radiation doses and leave it at that.聽Armed with such information, evacuees could decide for themselves if they want to return home.

For now, the government appears poised to further cut housing subsidies to evacuees. Its current plan would remove 5,000 households from the roll by March 2019. Advocacy groups are pressuring it to reconsider. In a聽聽submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Feb. 2, Greenpeace and Human Rights Now,聽a聽Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, called on the government to 鈥減rovide necessary housing support to all Fukushima evacuees, including those who evacuated from outside the government designated areas, as long as needed to ensure their ability to freely choose where they will live without pressure to return areas where their health or life would be at risk.鈥�

If the Japanese government were to take such advice, the lawsuit in Yonezawa could end.聽Takeda says it鈥檚 a tempting thought, but rather than waiting for the government to change its plan, he鈥檚 busy preparing for his next court appearance on March 20.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have much time left,鈥� Takeda says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 go home.鈥�

Takehiko Kambayashi contributed to this report.