Black sacks containing radiation-contaminated foliage and debris sit beside an abandoned house, near Litate village. Homes throughout the Fukushima area stand abandoned and there are fears that even if some residents do get to return most of these small communities will soon die out.
Four years after the Tohoku earthquake and a deadly tsunami that precipitated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, hundreds of square miles around the stricken reactor remain off-limits for habitation due to radioactivity. As part of the cleanup operation thousands of tonnes of topsoil have been removed and bagged up but currently there is a lack of suitable storage facilities for the radioactive material.