Shigeru Niitsuma moved back into Okuma's Ogawara district on June 1 — the first day residents were allowed to move into disaster-relief housing since the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant forced them to leave town in 2011.

"I feel at home in Ogawara, where I was born and raised," said the 70-year-old, who carried a washing machine and TV set into his new home.

It makes him smile to water the marigolds and other flowers in his new garden.