ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates why the residents in a village that was affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident insist on continuing to use stream water from the mountains even though the water may be radiation-contaminated. I focus on the Yamanokami (“spirits of the mountain”) Water Supply System Association (YWSSA), a community organization in Kawauchi Village, Fukushima, which is located within the 20 to 30 km radius zone of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Kawauchi Village was designated as an evacuation area after the hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant resulting from the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The entire village was evacuated by March 16, and the residents were forced to scatter across temporary shelters for about ten months. By January 2012 the village office had restored administrative services and issued a call for residents to return to the village. Nevertheless, as of March 2015, four years after the nuclear accident, only half of the former villagers have returned home.
