The more than 80,000 residents who evacuated the areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant have all felt the temptation to return to their homes, schools or businesss. And they have all struggled to recognize these familiar places turned hostile. The years of absence, the rodents, and the effects of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11th have left their mark.
In this new series, we wanted to highlight the terrible shock felt by locals who return. We asked former residents and landowners to return to their businesses and schools, to push open the doors to these once everyday settings. Facing the camera, they reacted as though, “nothing had happened,” and behaved normally. The strange and the commonplace come together in these almost supernatural and yet plausible photographs, the result of a historic nuclear disaster.
