{"id":87127,"date":"2026-09-07T00:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/87127\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:34:10","slug":"nuclear-waste-plan-for-japanese-resort-town-sparks-backlash-not-our-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/87127\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear waste plan for Japanese resort town sparks backlash: \u2018not our problem\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The rural Japanese town of Hitachiomiya sprawls down the Naka River valley in northwest Ibaraki prefecture, surrounded by lush forests and overlooked by the picturesque Yamizo mountains. Just 140km (87 miles) from Tokyo, its golf courses attract weekend players, while onsen hot spring resorts in the surrounding hills keep local business steady year-round.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The local tourism association\u2019s website highlights traditional festivals, campsites, hiking and cycling routes, alongside unique sights \u2013 including a complex of cave tombs on Mount Raijin, an ancient cedar grove and centuries-old temples and shrines.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Today, however, tourism representatives and municipal officials are more tight-lipped about the area\u2019s attractions.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This week, Hitachiomiya Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki accepted a request from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for his community to undergo a preliminary survey to determine whether the town\u2019s geology is suitable for a repository to store Japan\u2019s large \u2013 and growing \u2013 stockpile of highly radioactive nuclear waste.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Hitachiomiya Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki (left) receives a written request to conduct a preliminary survey for selecting his city as a potential disposal site for highly radioactive waste on Monday. Photo: Kyodo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5d2dc769-50d9-4568-8e5e-56d1f1efdec6_dc0074f1.jpg\" title=\"Hitachiomiya Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki (left) receives a written request to conduct a preliminary survey for selecting his city as a potential disposal site for highly radioactive waste on Monday. Photo: Kyodo\"\/>Hitachiomiya Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki (left) receives a written request to conduct a preliminary survey for selecting his city as a potential disposal site for highly radioactive waste on Monday. Photo: Kyodo<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In a statement issued on Monday, Suzuki said the area showed a \u201crelatively high probability of exhibiting favourable characteristics according to the scientific characteristics map\u201d, adding that land was available \u201cto install above-ground facilities for final disposal\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rural Japanese town of Hitachiomiya sprawls down the Naka River valley in northwest Ibaraki prefecture, surrounded by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[55117,625,55111,53120,16066,8,17,37351,55116,55112,55115,55113,55114,4465,52,37350],"class_list":["post-87127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-citizens-nuclear-information-centre","tag-fukushima","tag-fukushima-dai-ichi-nuclear-plant","tag-hitachiomiya","tag-ibaraki-prefecture","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-kumi-kato","tag-naka-river","tag-sadayuki-suzuki","tag-santa-no-yu","tag-shikisaikan","tag-suttsu","tag-this-week-in-asia","tag-tokyo","tag-wakayama-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}