Many Chinese tourists on a just-completed tour of Fukushima Prefecture think the area is a wonderful and safe place to visit, after seeing with their own eyes that life in many ways has returned to normal despite the nuclear disaster.
"There were big differences between hearing and actually seeing. I'm convinced of the safety by seeing Fukushima people doing well," said one of the roughly 40 members of the group, the first from mainland China to visit Fukushima since the March 2011 disasters.
The group from Shanghai, organized by budget carrier Spring Airlines, traveled to the hard-hit city of Iwaki and the Aizu region, both outside the evacuation zones linked to the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. The areas are struggling with both rumors and concerns sparked by fallout from the plant, which tainted the food chain and wide areas of Fukushima's northwest.