Naraha Hagurosan Onsen (Closed)

The Naraha Hagurosan Onsen was a hot spring facility in Naraha Town, Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the municipalities evacuated following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of March 2011, which forced the entire population of Naraha to leave their homes and businesses for several years before the evacuation order was gradually lifted beginning in 2015. Naraha Town, situated near the Fukushima nuclear plant in the coastal Hamadori zone of eastern Fukushima, has been the focus of extensive decontamination efforts and slow repopulation since the evacuation order was lifted, and its hot spring facility represents one of the many local institutions disrupted by the catastrophic events of 2011. The closure of the Naraha Hagurosan Onsen reflects the profound impact of the nuclear accident on the communities of the coastal Fukushima evacuation zone, whose recovery has been a long and difficult process involving the gradual return of residents to a landscape transformed by the most significant nuclear event in Japanese history.