Posted on 10/14/2016 10:33:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Japanese surfers are fearlessly catching waves at the radioactive beach near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Despite warnings of radioactivity in the area, surfers still visit Tairatoyoma beach, once a popular surf spot. While documenting decontamination efforts in the abandoned towns, photographer Eric Lafforgue, sighted the surfers in the water.
“Very few people have returned to this area and I could not have imagined finding them here. According to them, this place is one of the best in Japan to surf as the waves are big and very good to surf.”
Towns and houses within the red exclusion zone remain abandoned nearly five years after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that led to the Fukushima power plant meltdown. The March 11, 2011 incidents would affect the lives of countless people.
"“Houses are almost empty except for a few old people, but people come back every week to take care of their houses. So they are all clean apart from the gardens that are wild as the grass is radioactive so people do not cut it.”
Few people are seen in the towns with the exception of the clean up workers who are covered in protective gear and suits. One worker told Lafforgue that he would never swim there.
1SHARE Share Tweet Japanese surfers are fearlessly catching waves at the radioactive beach near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Despite warnings of radioactivity in the area, surfers still visit Tairatoyoma beach, once a popular surf spot. While documenting decontamination efforts in the abandoned towns, photographer Eric Lafforgue, sighted the surfers in the water.
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Japanese surfer in the contaminated area of Tairatoyoma beach near the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture – Barcroft Media
“Very few people have returned to this area and I could not have imagined finding them here. According to them, this place is one of the best in Japan to surf as the waves are big and very good to surf.”
View from a devastated marine house in the highly contaminated area after the daiichi nuclear power plant irradiation and the tsunami, Fukushima prefecture, Futaba, Japan – Barcroft Media
Towns and houses within the red exclusion zone remain abandoned nearly five years after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that led to the Fukushima power plant meltdown. The March 11, 2011 incidents would affect the lives of countless people.
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“Houses are almost empty except for a few old people, but people come back every week to take care of their houses. So they are all clean apart from the gardens that are wild as the grass is radioactive so people do not cut it.”
No entry sign in the contaminated area after the daiichi nuclear power plant irradiation, Fukushima prefecture, Iitate, Japan No entry sign in the contaminated area in Fukushima prefecture, Iitate, Japan – Barcroft Media
Few people are seen in the towns with the exception of the clean up workers who are covered in protective gear and suits. One worker told Lafforgue that he would never swim there.
“According to a man working in the Fukushima power plant, who spoke anonymously, the main risk for him is the water as contaminated water is still sent into the sea.”
1SHARE Share Tweet Japanese surfers are fearlessly catching waves at the radioactive beach near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Despite warnings of radioactivity in the area, surfers still visit Tairatoyoma beach, once a popular surf spot. While documenting decontamination efforts in the abandoned towns, photographer Eric Lafforgue, sighted the surfers in the water.
Sundown Naturals® Vitamins High-Quality Vitamins & Supplements Where Being Healthy Comes Naturally SundownNaturals.com
Japanese surfer in the contaminated area of Tairatoyoma beach near the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture – Barcroft Media
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“Very few people have returned to this area and I could not have imagined finding them here. According to them, this place is one of the best in Japan to surf as the waves are big and very good to surf.”
View from a devastated marine house in the highly contaminated area after the daiichi nuclear power plant irradiation and the tsunami, Fukushima prefecture, Futaba, Japan – Barcroft Media Towns and houses within the red exclusion zone remain abandoned nearly five years after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that led to the Fukushima power plant meltdown. The March 11, 2011 incidents would affect the lives of countless people.
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant five years after – Barcroft Media
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“Houses are almost empty except for a few old people, but people come back every week to take care of their houses. So they are all clean apart from the gardens that are wild as the grass is radioactive so people do not cut it.”
No entry sign in the contaminated area after the daiichi nuclear power plant irradiation, Fukushima prefecture, Iitate, Japan No entry sign in the contaminated area in Fukushima prefecture, Iitate, Japan – Barcroft Media
Few people are seen in the towns with the exception of the clean up workers who are covered in protective gear and suits. One worker told Lafforgue that he would never swim there.
Barcroft Media
“According to a man working in the Fukushima power plant, who spoke anonymously, the main risk for him is the water as contaminated water is still sent into the sea.”
Japanese surfer in the contaminated area in front of a authorized entry prohibited sign , Fukushima prefecture, Tairatoyoma beach, Japan
Lafforgue spoke to the worker after meeting the surfers and so had unknowingly waded in the water to take his photos earlier. Even if the risk is low, he says there is still some sense of uneasiness.
Surfers, wearing nothing but their wetsuits, stay in the water for hours at a time and sometimes swallow it too.
Deserted street in the highly contaminated area after the daiichi nuclear power plant irradiation, Fukushima prefecture, Tomioka, Japan
Meanwhile, men on the beach are continuing their tedious work of removing sand bags labeled as radioactive waste. Lafforgue said:
“They [surfers] say their passion is bigger than the risks and the truth will only be known in 20 years.”
After the level 7 nuclear disaster, approximately 800 square kilometers was sectioned off and labeled as the red zone due to the high levels of radioactive contamination. People were forced to evacuate their homes and given temporary housing to live in.
“I was sad thinking about all the lives broken or those who survived and will never come back. I hope people will understand that time does not erase the pain or consequences of the catastrophe. The gap is huge between what you read in the news and what you feel on the ground.”
Some surfers are born to the breed of risktakers. There are similar people out here in California. They run toward the high waves. Not away, like regular people do. They will not be dissuaded from making the attempt to conquer these water monoliths.
‘Ride The Radioactive Surf’ was a huge 1960’s Jan and Dean hit! Hmmmmm, well, maybe I’m confused about that title......
Big!?
Risk their lives!?
NONSENSE!
They ought to try the meanest wave on the planet at Shipstern's, where the waves have waves in them.
Ping to post#5.
Check out these waves, Lee!
They give glowing reviews of the break.
Stunning and majestic. Just looking at the still photos takes your breath away!
A Surfer needs to work up to that level of competence, if such waves can be ridden at all.
Second worst release in the history of the nuclear power industry (Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island).
It took the biggest earthquake ever recorded to strike Japan (4th largest ever recorded on Earth) to cause it, but even then, it was not from the earthquake itself. It was the massive tsunami which destroyed the backup generators, so the pumps quit and three reactors overheated, till they breached their containment. They were among the oldest reactors in Japan.
Other than the first responders who went into the breached reactors themselves, no deaths were directly attributed to the radioactive release. About 15,000 were killed, and 3,000 lost by the earthquake and tsunami.
I tried surfing for the first time in my life only this past summer. Here’s a video I posted on YouTube of it. Have to admit I was a little nervous, it being my first time and all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nS_aR8XX_U
Scaremongers.
The Japanese can’t get enough of that nuclear fallout — seems like August 1945 was insufficient.
I’d rather surf Okinawa, warmer too.
The movie is mocking him, especially the redux version, but looking back he’s the most admirable character, in my opinion.
When they come down with radiation-triggered cancers, whom will they sue?
The new “Banzai Pipeline!”
That is the only place on earth that I am aware of where waves form in the face of the wave as it breaks.
it’s one thing to ride a giant wave, but another altogether when you can be launched into the air at anytime, and if you miss the landing, all the weight of the ocean slams down on top of you directly above a coral reef.
Oh and all that comes with free Great White sharks.
Those guys that surf there must be made of steel.
Did somebody say “Sharks”?!
Well, I guess they were here first.
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