Two years have passed since Yuko Endo, mayor of the village of Kawauchi, made a widely publicized plea calling on residents to return home after being forced to evacuate because of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

While some residents have returned, there have been few young people among them, posing a challenge for village officials in restoring the community to what it was.

Large swathes of the highland farming village were declared evacuation or "stay indoors" zones after three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to the northeast suffered core meltdowns and spewed radioactive fallout into the environment.