fukushima photo diary part 1

(handmade candles!)

This is just a handful of the many pictures from my trip to Fukushima, Japan. Akane and I (we worked together for NHK World's "Tokyo Eye") were invited as guests to participate in "Aizu Engine 007 - Fukushima Never Give Up!" So many aspects of Aizu, Fukushima were affected by the tsunami and the nuclear explosion - some of these include farming, fishing, and even tourism. This event was created in hopes to bring Aizu back to how it used to be before the nuclear explosion, to bring hope and courage to the Fukushima citizens to overcome this difficult period (more about this in my next blog post). 

The first day of the trip consisted of over 5 hours of road-tripping so we ended up not doing much. The morning of the event, our manager took us to Tsuruga Castle in Wakamatsu. This was my first time touring a Japanese castle so I was pretty excited. This castle was  actually rebuilt quite recently, but I could still feel all of it's history oozing out of its pores. Going inside the castle and reading the history behind it made me realize how much Japanese history I forgot... Anyways, while the actual castle was beautiful itself, the scenery surrounding it was quite amazing - the trees were looking their finest in bright shades of red, orange and golden yellow. All this beauty made me forget about my freezing toes (it was probably below 10 degrees Celsius).

More about the event in my next blog post, so stay tuned!

Love,

Samantha Mariko