Naoto Matsumura has gained national media attention in Japan for being the only person still living within the contaminated area near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, which covers 12 miles in any direction. Residing about seven and a half miles from the reactors that spewed 168 times more radioactive particles than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings combined, the 52-year-old Matsumura has refused to leave the town of Tomioka, which used to have a population of 16,000.

 

Actually he did evacuate about a month after March 11 earthquake, tsunami and plant explosions. But after living in a shelter for three days, he decided to return home.

 

He lives without electricity and relies on local coal supplies to generate heat for his home during the frigid winter months. He eats stored rice and canned foods. A farmer his entire life, Matsumura keeps himself busy by feeding the hundreds of animals left behind by those who evacuated…400 cows, more than 100 cats, 60 pigs, 30 fowl, 10 dogs and an ostrich.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Lone Holdout's First Nuclear Winter Looms in Tohoku (by Christopher Johnson, Japan Times)