【英语国际】震后一周年：日本古镇的生存危机

In late January, Tamotsu Baba got the bad news from the government he had been dreading. Officials announced that most of Mr. Baba's hometown of Namie, located four miles from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, would likely have to remain evacuated for 'several years' or longer.

For 10 months, Mr. Baba has tried to keep the town unified after its displacement. The prognosis, the mayor feared, could be the fatal blow for a community with roots stretching back 1,000 years.

'Our town will become divided. It will be a very difficult challenge to manage the situation,' Mayor Baba told reporters.

As the anniversary of the March 11 disasters nears, devastated communities across northeastern Japan continue to live with dislocation, and how to define their futures. The challenge is especially difficult for the 11 municipalities located inside the nuclear evacuation zone. Residents don't know when, or if, they will ever be able to return to their homes.

The burden is particularly heavy for Namie, a coastal village known for its pottery, a bustling fishing port and a scenic river gorge.

Namie has survived and thrived through hundreds of years of wars, natural disasters and economic distress. One local sake maker traces its roots back an unbroken 200 years. A pottery kiln has been in the same local family for 25 generations.

Over many years, Namie's population of 21,000 has displayed remarkable cohesion. In a recent survey of the now-displaced inhabitants, 72% said they had lived there for at least 20 years.

Older residents like Mr. Baba, 63 years old, say the community can survive this latest ordeal as well, if Namie citizens can stay together and avoid permanent resettling elsewhere until the day they can return en masse.

'We must aim to go back to the life we had before March 11,' he said, sitting in the cramped, windowless office he has set up at a community center in Nihonmatsu, 30 miles inland from his former workplace.

The neighboring city has become the unofficial headquarters of Namie, where the town hall and 2,800 of its residents have relocated.

But some younger residents are struggling. Sadayuki Yashima, 43, was a member of a young business leaders group promoting Namie for years before the accident. He represented the town last year at a national competition of local delicacies, sporting a large hat overflowing with plastic replicas of the town's famous fried noodles. When the town won an award, he took the stage to chants of 'Namie' from the audience and pledged in a booming voice to 'get our town back no matter what it takes!'

In conversations, however, the third-generation Namie native admits that the goal is tough. His business and family are feeling the strains of a life in limbo, and the pressures to make a fresh start elsewhere.

'My work has disappeared as my community scattered,' he said.

Mr. Yashima was the owner of a small steel-beam company reliant on local customers, with sales down 90%. His wife and two children share a tiny two-room temporary home in Shinmachi, 30 miles from their former home.

A washing machine, squeezed next to a cafe-size table with two folding stools in the kitchen, drowns out mealtime conversation.

'I can't even give my teenage daughter a place to change; she's starting middle school but there is no place for her to study,' Mr. Yashima says.

Fukushima University's November survey of households from Namie and seven other communities affected by nuclear evacuation showed 52% of the area's residents age 34 or younger said they wouldn't return to their hometowns under any circumstances, compared with 17% for those age 65 to 79.

Before March 11, Namie's school system had 1,710 children in its elementary and middle schools. Close to half of those children now live outside Fukushima prefecture. New schools were opened in Nihonmatsu in August.

Current enrollment: 82. The need for Namie's citizens to find permanent new homes will likely accelerate as the new school year in April looms.

More than half of Namie's residents who had jobs before March 11 are unemployed, and the government began in January to end unemployment benefits to those who lost their jobs as a result of the March disaster.

Nearly half of Namie's residents said they have moved at least three times since the accident. Still, community leaders work to preserve the town's traditions, even without a town to anchor them.

For 130 years, Namie had an annual postharvest celebration. Lately, it boasted 400 stalls selling food and toys, drawing crowds of 100,000.

In early November, the street fair was re-created at the edge of Nihonmatsu's center, with 70 stalls.

Some 50,000 visitors turned up, braving cold autumn rain to hold a reunion. There were a lot of handshakes, joyous squeals and some tears as friends and neighbors were reunited.

Seniors camped out in front of a stage where residents took turns singing karaoke. Mothers exchanged stories about how their children fit in at their new schools.

One preschooler showed off a dosimeter worn around her neck, a requirement for children in Nihonmatsu and other places relatively close to Fukushima Daiichi.

Long lines of people waited by stalls selling Namie yakisoba, the popular local dish of fried noodles that has become a symbol of the town's battle to survive. Another stall sold cups and vases made by local potters.

The festival gave Asumi Kikuchi, a 13-year-old middle-school student, an opportunity to get together with three of her best friends, who are now scattered all over Fukushima prefecture.

'The hardest thing for me is not being able to see my friends,' she said as the girls reluctantly headed back toward the train station as the festival drew close to an end.

1月下旬，马场保（Tamotsu Baba，音）从政府那里得知了自己害怕已久的坏消息。政府官员宣布，马场保的家乡浪江町（Namie）大部分地区可能将在“几年”甚至更长时间内保持撤离状态。浪江距受灾的福岛第一核电站（Fukushima Daiichi）四英里。

撤离后的10个月里，马场保一直试图让浪江町团结起来。身为町长的马场保担心，这样的处理方式对这个拥有1,000年悠久历史的社区可能是致命的打击。

Kyodo News/Associated Press2011年5月，当地居民回到浪江町，为家乡祈祷。马场保对记者说，我们的小镇会四分五裂；处理这种情况可能会是十分严峻的挑战。

随着3•11灾难周年纪念日的临近，日本东北部遭受重创的社区民众仍旧过着流离失所的生活，对自己的未来依然无法确定。对位于核疏散区内的11个市镇来说，挑战尤其艰巨。居民们不知道何时，或者究竟是否能够回到自己的家园。

浪江町的负担尤其沉重。这是一个以陶器著称的滨海小镇，并拥有一个繁华的渔港及一条风景优美的河谷。

数百年来，浪江町挺过了战争、自然灾难以及经济萧条的重重打击，并取得了繁荣的发展。当地一家清酒制造商的历史可追溯至200年前。一座陶瓷窑在当地一个家族手中已经传了25代。

多年来，浪江町的全体21,000居民表现出了惊人的凝聚力。在最近对目前撤离居民所作的一次调查中，72%的人说他们在那里生活了至少20年。

马场保（63岁）等年长的居民说，如果浪江居民能够保持团结，不要在别的地方长期定居，直到某一天全体返回家园，那么他们同样能够度过最近的这次磨难。

相关阅读
马场保现在二本松市（Nihonmatsu）一处社区中心一间没有窗户的狭小办公室里办公，距离他之前的工作地点30英里。他说，我们必须努力回到我们在3•11之前的生活。

毗邻的二本松市已经成为浪江的非正式大本营了，市政厅以及2,800名居民已经撤离到了这里。

但有些年轻的居民依然在挣扎。43岁的八岛定之（Sadayuki Yashima，音）是一个年轻商业领袖组织的成员，该组织在核事故发生前多年一直致力于促进浪江发展。去年，他代表浪江参加了一场地方美食的全国性比赛，当时他戴着一顶大帽子，上面挂有塑料制成的著名的浪江炒面。浪江获奖时，他登台带领观众高呼“浪江”，并以高亢的嗓音誓言“要不惜一切代价重振浪江町！”。

Ko Sasaki for The Wall Street Journal图片：日本老人在编织中走出灾难阴影不过在谈话中，这个土生土长的第三代浪江人承认，这个目标很难实现。他的公司和家族都感觉到了生活没有着落的压力，还有在别处重新开始的压力。

他说，由于我所在社区的人们四处分散，我的工作也就不复存在了。

八岛定之是一家小型钢梁公司的老板，公司业务主要依赖当地客户，如今公司销售量已下降了90%。他的妻子和两个孩子住在新町（Shinmachi）一处两室的临时住所里，房子很小，距离他们以前的家30英里。

临时住所的厨房里有一张咖啡桌大小的桌子，配有两把折叠凳，旁边勉强塞下了一台洗衣机。用餐时谈话的声音会被洗衣机的声音所掩盖。

八岛定之说，我甚至没法给我十几岁的女儿一个换衣服的地方；她要上中学了，但却连学习的地方都没有。

福岛大学（Fukushima University）11月份对来自浪江及其他七个受核疏散影响社区的家庭进行了调查，结果显示在这些地区34岁以下的居民中，有52%说他们无论如何都不会返回家乡了，而在65岁至79岁的居民中，这个比例是17%。

Reuters2011年3月11日，日本东北部遭遇九级强震及海啸。摄影师们在灾后一年内再次拍摄了同一地点的照片。3•11之前，浪江的小学和初中共有1,710名学生，如今这些孩子有近半数住在福岛县之外。去年8月二本松又新开了几所学校。

目前在册的学生人数为82。随着4月份新学年的到来，浪江居民寻找新的永久住所的需求可能会急剧增长。

3•11前有工作的浪江居民中，半数以上现在都是失业状态，而且政府从1月份开始不再为因3•11灾难失去工作的人提供失业福利。

近半数浪江居民说，自核事故以来，他们至少搬了三次家。尽管如此，社区领袖们依然在致力于保存这个小镇的传统，即便赖以生存的小镇已不复存在。

130年以来，浪江每年都会在粮食丰收期后举行庆祝活动。最近的一次大型集市中，400个出售食品和玩具的摊位吸引了10万人。

去年11月初，在二本松市中心的边缘地带再次举行了集市活动，共有70个摊位。

集市吸引了大约五万人前往，他们冒着寒冷的秋雨团聚。朋友和邻居重逢，人们纷纷握手，有惊喜的尖叫，还有的人流下了泪水。

老年人在舞台前露营，居民们轮流上台唱卡拉ok。母亲们互相拉家常，谈论着自己的孩子如何适应新的学校。

一个幼儿园孩子给我们看自己脖子上的辐射剂量仪。在二本松及其他与福岛第一核电站较近的地方，孩子们都必须佩戴剂量仪。

人们在卖浪江日式炒面的摊位前排着长队。这种受欢迎的当地美食成为了浪江生存之战的一个象征。还有一个摊位在卖当地陶工制作的杯子和花瓶。

这个盛会给了13岁的中学生菊池和澄（Asumi Kikuchi,，音）与自己最要好的三个朋友相聚的机会。她们现在住在福岛县的不同地方。

随着盛会接近尾声，姑娘们不情愿地返回火车站。菊池和澄说，对我来说，最难受的事情就是见不到我的朋友。