A nonprofit group's interviews with foreign nationals who were living in Fukushima Prefecture at the time the nuclear catastrophe started in March 2011 determined that more than two-thirds left for their home countries or relocated elsewhere in Japan, at least temporarily.
The Fukushima International Association said its survey also showed the foreigners it polled were troubled by differences in domestic and foreign media coverage and that most of them relied on TV more than radio because of language barriers.
Of 70 foreigners verbally interviewed by the association who were living in the prefecture in late 2012, 51 said they had evacuated. Of them, 29 left for their home countries, while 21 moved out of the prefecture and one within the prefecture.