The 30th Short Field Visit was held in Fukushima Prefecture from December 1st to 3rd, 2022, under the theme of “Sense Fukushima – Catching the Current State of Fukushima.”

The purpose of this short field visit was to motivate new students to learn about the realities of radiation disaster and the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach to their studies in the early stages of the Phoenix Program.

On December 2nd, the students visited the Soma City Traditional Requiem Memorial Hall, the Remains of the earthquake Namie Town Ukedo Elementary School, and the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Museum. They also learned from Dr. Oikawa, Director of Minamisoma City General Hospital, about his experiences and hardships at the time of the earthquake.

On December 3rd, the students had a round-table meeting with residents affected by the disaster and learned about the actual situation of evacuation and efforts to revitalize communities. They learned about decontamination efforts at the Environmental Restoration Plaza of the Ministry of the Environment.

During the whole trip, students carried a radiation measuring instrument to check radiation levels.

After this visit, some of the positive feedback we received from students included:

“It motivated me a lot for my future research.”

“On this trip, I learned things that we could not learn from papers or books.”

At the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Museum

At the Environmental Restoration Plaza