About 70km from Fukushima Daiichi, on the boarder of Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures lies the city of Shirakawa. It was a pleasant city with lots of green space that was mentioned by Basho in his famous poem The Narrow Road to Oku. Every year they hold the Daruma Ichi festival that celebrates Daruma dolls, traditional toys that symbolize perseverance and good luck.

However now the background radiation is at times 0.60μSv which is about three times the average dose of radiation we receive during our daily lives. Here, a tearful mother of two confesses to reporter investigating financial compensation something that a mother should never have to say: “I wish my daughters were never born.”

The 48 year-old thought she was doing the right thing by remaining in Shirakawa with her two daughters (14 and 15). Tied into a mortgage and with nowhere else to stay the daughters would also have to deal with changing high schools, which is notoriously complicated for students in Japan. However, as the days passed, the reality of her situation began to sink in. Every day she has to wonder if it’s safe to drink the water or go outside and risk thyroid cancer or other health problems. Even if it doesn’t happen today there is no sign of this situation ending.

“When I think of the worries and hardships they will be burdened with for the rest of their lives I wish they were never born into this. I apologize to them for giving birth to them” the mother wept to the reporter.

As this year comes to an end in Japan people see it as a new beginning and a chance to put bad things behind us. However for many people this is impossible. It takes incredibly desperate circumstances to make a woman say these things about her own children rather than the typical joy that mothers always have. While TEPCO announced their success at reaching cold shutdown on 16 December, they too can’t put the damage done behind them.

Souce:Original Story (Japanese)