Students returned Monday to four schools in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, that were in areas where residents were ordered to prepare for evacuation from the nuclear power plant crisis.
The nuclear crisis resulted in 12 elementary and junior high schools finding themselves in the city's emergency evacuation zone, which covered areas between 20 and 30 km from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Those who had to evacuate attended classes at temporary schools or were taken in by other schools. The government then lifted the evacuation order for eight of the 12 schools in September.