A billboard stating it is on the site for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor stands on the corner of a vast tract of vacant land, reminding visitors of a project Tokyo had once hoped would come and boost the economy by some 1.2 trillion yen.
"Inspection teams from various countries visited here," Mitsutaka Ogasawara said, unable to hide his disappointment that the plan has fallen through.
Ogasawara heads the Rokkasho municipal liaison office of Shin Mutsu Ogawara Co., a real estate firm that had planned to sell some of its land to the ITER project in the village of Rokkasho.