Namie is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 29 February 2020 the town has a population of 1,238 in 794 households, although the official registered population was 17,114 in 6853 households. The total area of the town is 223.14 square kilometres (86.15 sq mi). The town was evacuated as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster—being directly downwind from the power plant—and was within the exclusion zone set up in response to the disaster. Following ongoing clean-up efforts, Namie's business district and town hall have reopened, but access to more heavily contaminated western parts of the town remains restricted.
Namie Town Hall
The center of Namie on April 12, 2011, showing damage to buildings sustained during the earthquake a month prior
Fukushima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 and has a geographic area of 13,783.90 square kilometres (5,321.99 sq mi). Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture to the north, Niigata Prefecture to the west, Gunma Prefecture to the southwest, and Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture to the south.
The Ōyasuba Kofun in the Tohoku region
Buddhist chapel Shiramizu Amidadō
Three of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi overheated, causing meltdowns that led to explosions, which released large amounts of radioactive material into the air.
View of Fukushima Basin from Hanamiyama Park