The only person living in the dead land near Fukushima

There is only Naoto Matsumura in Tomioka, no electricity, no running water, fighting loneliness and the threat of radiation by taking care of a large herd of animals.

A few kilometers south, the coastal areas of Fukushima Prefecture are undergoing reconstruction. However, in Tomioka, the town is located only 12km from the Fukushima I nuclear power plant and is located in a restricted area with a range of 20km, people have left the land for a long time. Weeds grow up over the sidewalks and around electric poles at the corners. The front of the drugstore Matsuya right on the main road without paint, the glass and plastic panels of the nearby play center are still sprawled. Tomioka did not change after a year of shaking because of the tsunami and earthquake.

Only 52-year-old Naoto Matsumura in this town, without electricity, running water, facing loneliness and the threat of naming radiation by taking care of a large herd of animals, including one ostrich.

Mr. Naoto Matsumura. (Photo: Telegraph)

"I'm working, the earthquake happens and we hear the radio saying that the tsunami is on the way. So I waited a while before I ran away," he recounted. "The next day, I heard an explosion from the factory. I didn't need to hear anyone tell what happened, because the explosion was so horrible."

Continuous explosions then led him and his parents and a few locals to make their way to the south to escape.

"I knocked on my aunt's door in Iwaki but she did not let any of us come in for fear of radiation , " he said. The group went to a nearby shelter center but continued to be rejected, so they returned to town. In April, Matsumura's mother fell ill so the whole family moved to live with some relatives outside the forbidden area.

"We could not bring the whole herd of animals with me so I decided to stay with them , " he said.

Initially, he took care of about 60 dogs and 100 abandoned cats. Hundreds of ducks and geese and livestock locked in local cages should also be taken care of. However, Mr. Matsumura did not keep all these animals out.

Many of these animals are domestic pets and they merge themselves into flocks. Finally, he has 7 dogs and 14 puppies, 60 cats, a half-pig boar and half a pig, and an ostrich - the only bird surviving among 30 birds on a farm. He spent an afternoon just "coaxing" it for a distance of 8km to his home, after he found it wandering for food. Police patrolling in this restricted area named the ostrich on the Boss.

"I'm not bored," he said. "At first I felt lonely at night but a week later I got used to this life. There are many animals living here with me so I never felt lonely."

Mr. Matsumura still drives his white truck through the desolate lands and looks for animals that need help. Only the sound of birds and the wind whistling on the phone lines. The cattle have remembered where he left the food and are waiting for him.

"The police told me to leave but that no one will take care of these animals," he said.

Mr. Matsumura visited Tokyo University in October. The results showed that he was infected with high ceasium but he said that the reason was because he ate the vegetables he found in the village. He will not eat them anymore. He is not worried about his health because the whole herd of pets is still healthy. He said that if he had a disease, it would be 30 years.

The biggest fear in Mr. Matsumura is that this town, where his family has lived for 5 generations, will be forgotten. The government says it will take up to 40 years to clear the area's radiation.

"Tomioka will become a ghost town," he said. "The kids don't want to come back here."

He petitioned the government, asking them to act but the answer he received was "considering". "I told them to consider it quickly because we might die before they make a decision," he said. "I told them to feed my animals, but no one was still calm. I was alone."