Some residents in the town of Namie were forced to flee their homes a month ago, when radiation began spewing from a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant, are making furtive trips back into the so-called hot zone.
Japan Evacuees Brave Radiation Fears to Briefly Return Home
Namie, population 22,000, is virtually abandoned, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
The center of Namie is a ghost town, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan 12 March, 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
Cattle have been left to forage on their own for the past month, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A cow ambles down a road in Namie, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
Cattle on the loose graze on shrubbery at an abandoned home, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
One of the few signs of life in Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A tractor remains partly buried in mud from the tsunami, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A boat carried inland a month ago by the tsunami still sits in a field, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A Soma Fire Department vehicle inspecting tsunami-damaged areas, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan 12 March, 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
An abandoned gasoline station in the hot zone which was hit by the tsunami, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
The Yamagata family in front of their quake-damaged pharmacy in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A home buried by the tsunami a month ago, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)
A building in the hot zone flattened by the March 11 tsunami, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, March 12 2011 (VOA - S. L. Herman)