IWAKI, FUKUSHIMA PREF. ¨C Every day, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., a part-time worker at one of Fukushima¡¯s most well-known beaches walks toward the shoreline and lowers a dosimeter to the water. The device measures radiation, and its readings this summer have delivered the best news one can hope for 70 km south of a still-leaking nuclear plant:
The levels are normal.
Nearly 2? years after a series of meltdowns at a coastal atomic plant, normalcy has become Fukushima¡¯s scarcest commodity, and those who live here cherish it ¡ª or anything approaching it ¡ª in whatever form they can find. Local officials describe Nakoso Beach as a symbol of recovery, its seasonal opening day this year feted with hula dancers and hopeful speeches. But the officials acknowledge that the Fukushima region¡¯s recovery is tenuous, and only by the standards of a traumatized region does Nakoso Beach feel normal.
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