Wonderful bike & train tour in Fukushima 福島大好きおじさんの自転車・鉄道旅日記

I visited Namie Town on a special 2-day tour organized by Environment Restoration Plaza (Fukushima City). About 20 people from inside and outside of Fukushima Prefecture participated in the tour with almost the same number of staff members attended. Namie Town had been evacuated for the whole population and area immediately after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in March 11th, 2011. The central part of the town was lifted an evacuation order by the end of March, 2017 and started its restoration efforts. I visited the town at the time and enjoyed beautiful cherry blossoms street along the Ukedo River, but the town center was in the very beginning of reconstruction. On this tour I visited many places, had chances to hear from many local people and totally had a strong sense of momentum toward the revitalization. Photo above was one of the places: Ukedo Fishing Port. The port had already been recovered from devastation by tsunami, but the number of fishing boat is still 27 compared to 94 before the disaster. This was the second largest fishing port in Fukushima following the largest Haragama Port in Soma.
環境再生プラザ（環境省の組織で福島県にある）主催の２日間のツアーに参加し、浪江町に行きました。県内外から２０人ほどが参加し、また主催者側から同じ位の数の方々にサポートして頂きました。浪江町は，２０１１年３月の原発事故で全町民、全エリアが避難指示となりましたが、町の中心部は２０１７年３月末に解除されました。私が翌月４月に訪れたときは、請戸側沿いの桜並木が大変きれいでしたが、町中はこれから復興が始まるときでした。今回の旅では、町の色々な場所、色々な方のお話を聞くことができ、町の復興の勢いを十分に実感できました。写真は、その１つの請戸漁港です。港は、津波の被害から復旧し試験操業も行っていますが、漁船の数は２７と，震災前の９４に戻るにはまだこれからです。請戸漁港は，福島県では相馬の原釜漁港に次いで、２番目の漁獲高を誇ります。


On a hill called Ohirayama near the Ukedo Port, there was a large memorial for all the 182 victims in Namie Town by the March 11th disaster as shown above. It became famous that all the children and teachers of Ukedo Elementary School evacuated on this hill safely at the time of tsunami. We could see from here the remains of the school, the Pacific Ocean and even Fukushima Daiichi stacks 5km away.
請戸漁港の近くの大平山と呼ぶ丘の上に、大震災で浪江で亡くなった１８２人の方の慰霊碑（写真）があります。この丘は、近くの請戸小の生徒・先生が、津波が来る中で避難し全員助かったことで有名です。丘からは，旧請戸小、太平洋、また５ｋｍ離れた１Ｆ原発の排気塔も見えます。




We stayed overnight at the town operated public inn called Ikoinomura-Namie as shown above. The facility was renovated and reopened in June 2018, and was one of the recovery symbols. It was very comfortable. It was not ready to provide meals yet. There were nice hiking trails in the back yard but the area was still under preparation and closed.
１日目の夜は、写真の町の公共の宿「いこいの村なみえ」に泊まりました。２０１８年６月に修復され再開したもので、町のシンポルの１つです。新しく快適でしたが、まだ食事の提供には至っていません。裏山には、素敵なハイキングコースもありますが，整備中でまだ閉鎖されています。


There was a nice commercial and eatery area called Machi-Nami-Marche just adjacent to the town hall as shown above.
町役場の隣には、写真の「まち・なみ・まるしぇ」と呼ぶお店と食事処の小さなコーナーがあります。


We had a nice and healthy breakfast at Kitchen Grandma as shown above, which was located within Machi-Nami-Marche.
我々は、この中にある写真のキッチングランマで、朝食をとりました。


About 3-minute walk from the town hall, there was a guest house called Aotaso, which has several rooms for accommodation. A young manager Izumi-san in his twenties operates this facility with many supports from local people. Many volunteers and students from outside Fukushima have been using this house.
町役場から３分ほど歩いた場所に，あおた荘というゲストハウスがあります。泊まる部屋として数部屋あり、和泉さんという２０代の若い経営者が地元の方の協力も得て、運営しています。県外からの多くのボランティアや学生さんなどが多く泊まるそうです。


At OCAFE shown above, which was a small café located at Kariyado district surrounded by fields, we could see and hear special picture stories.
町中心部から少し離れた苅宿地区にあるＯＣＡＦＥ（写真）というカフェでは、特別な紙芝居が見られました。




Mrs. Oka performed and told us a picture story about firefighters at the time of the March 11th disaster as shown in the picture and very short piece of video above. It was a very regrettable story triggered by nuclear plant accident.
上の写真とビテオ（ごく一部分のみ）にあるように、岡さんが、震災と原発事故時の消防隊員の無念の話を紙芝居で語ってくれました。


At Ishii farm operated by another active woman Mrs. Ishii in the town, we had a harvest experience of fine egoma or perilla beans just in season. Egoma plant looked today as shown above. We harvested large amount of egoma beans equivalent of several bottles of very expensive egoma oil today.
石井農園では、もう１人の元気な女性の石井さんから、ちょうど時期のエゴマの収穫体験をさせてもらいました。写真は、今日のエゴマの姿です（収穫前）。我々が本日収穫した分で、高級なエゴマ油のびんが、数本作れるそうです。


On the way to Namie in the first day, we stopped at Stable Michikusa in Minamisoma as shown above. Since the nuclear plant accident many horses had been taken to this shelter and taken care of by a volunteer.
１日目に浪江に行く途中、南相馬の厩舎みちくさに寄りました。原発事故で飼い主から離れた馬たちの世話を、ここであるボランティア（いまではお仕事）さんがしてきました。


A memorial for cattle victims by the nuclear plant accident stood at the back of the site as shown above.
裏には、原発事故の影響で犠牲になった牛たちの慰霊碑も立っていました。


Another stop was Soma Ranch which was a large cattle farm of 180 calves before the accident. Today the owner restarted the ranch producing grass and raising sheep as shown above.
もう１ヶ所、南相馬で寄ったのが相馬牧場です。ここは，原発事故前は１８０頭の子牛を飼っていましたが、今では牧草と羊の飼育に変わりました。

This bus tour started from JR Fukushima Station and moved east toward Hamadori region. The bus traveled through Soma and Minamisoma Cities, stopping at some of the places, and finally reached Namie Town area. On the way back, the bus went through a part of still evacuated area such as Obori district. Each of us carried a small dosimeter and my dosimeter measured air radiation dose of between 0.06 and 0.84 micro Sv/h throughout the tour. The maximum dose of 0.84 was seen when moving through still evacuated Obori area. Accumulated dose for 33 hours during the travel was 3.11 micro Sieverts, which was equivalent of 0.83mSv/yr. This is considered below the global safety standard.
このバスツアーは、ＪＲ福島駅を出発し、東の浜通りに向かい相馬と南相馬を経由し，浪江に入りました。帰りは、大堀地区など一部避難区域を通りました。我々は皆、参考に線量計を携帯し道中測定をしました。私の線量計では、線量は0.06から0.84マイクロシーベルト／時の間を記録しました。最大値の0.84は、まだ避難区域の大堀地区を通過した際に出たものです。また、全行程の積算値は、3.11マイクロシーベルトでこの値は、年間被ばく量に換算して0.83ミリシーベルト／年となり、国際安全基準から見ても小さい値でした。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。

Today, I traveled further north in Hamadori region to Namie Town and Odaka district of Minamisoma City. A photo above shows cherry blossoms in full bloom at historic site of Soma Odaka Shrine. This is also Nomagake performance site for the grand Soma Nomaoi Festival in July. The location is about 10-minute walk from JR Odaka Sta.
本日は、浜通りを更に北上し、浪江町と南相馬市の小高区に入りました。写真は、歴史のある相馬小高神社の満開の桜です。ここは、７月の相馬野馬追祭りで、野間懸の舞台になります。場所は、ＪＲ小高駅から徒歩１０分ほどです。


Soma Odaka Shrine stood within historic Odaka Castle ruins. Front approach to the castle ground was also decorated with cherry blossoms as shown above.
相馬小高神社は、小高城跡の中にあります。正面入り口も、桜の花で飾られています。


Description board above explains the history of the castle and the shrine in Japanese.
説明版には、小高城と相馬小高神社の日本語の説明がなされています。


In order to get to Namie and Odaka, I had to take JR shuttle bus service between Tatsuta and Namie Station because bike transportation was not allowed. At Tatsuta Sta. this morning a large shuttle bus appeared on time as shown on the left above. The bus took us between Tatsuta and Namie Sta., which was still suspended train operation. Although there is only one round trip a day currently, the shuttle bus service is extremely convenient for travelers without cars.
浪江と小高にいくには、竜田と浪江の間をつなぐシャトルバスに乗る必要があります（自転車通行不可）。今朝、竜田駅には、定刻に大型のシャトルバスが来ました（写真左）。まだ再開通していない竜田と浪江間をこのバスが繋ぎます。現在、１日１往復のみですが、車を持たない旅行者には、大変便利なものです。（地元の方も、もっと本数が増えれば、復興を更に後押しすると話していました。開通は、２年後ですから。）


After I visited Odaka district, I took JR Joban Line train to get to Namie Sta. Namie Town has just been lifted the evacuation order last month due to the nuclear plant accident. The town has just started its recovery movement. But cherry trees along the Ukedo River which flows through the town were already beautiful as shown above.
小高区のあと、私はＪＲ常磐線に乗り、浪江まで行きました。浪江町は、先月、原発事故の避難指示が解除されたばかりで、町の復興はこれからです。でも、請戸川沿いの桜並木は、既に写真のように極上でした。


As I explained above, Namie Station is the south terminal station for the northern part of JR Joban Line. Namie Sta. has just resumed operation from the 1at of this month. Photo above shows a train traveling from north bound for Namie runs through a bridge over the Ukedo River before arriving at Namie Station.
これまでの説明から、浪江駅は常磐線の北半分の南終点になります。浪江駅は、今月の１日に営業を再開したばかりです。写真は、北からの浪江行きの電車が、最後に請戸川の鉄橋を渡るところです。

This is the final report of three-day series of cherry blossoms in Hamadori region.
浜通りの桜シリーズの３日目で、これが最後となります。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。