While residents of the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, knew that nuclear accidents could occur, they never expected one in their own backyard.
Tokai, which is home to more than a dozen atomic power facilities within its 37-sq.-km boundaries, has been considered the heart of Japan's nuclear power industry since the 1950s.
"We heard about the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, but I had always thought a similar thing wouldn't happen in Japan," said Toshiyuki Osonoe, 36, proprietor of a sake and rice shop in the village 125 km northeast of Tokyo.
Therefore, when the seemingly impossible did happen a year ago, shock ran through the 34,000 residents of the village and nearby municipalities, as well as people in the rest of the country and perhaps even abroad.