Fukushima seeks to show visitors brighter side through 'hope tourism'

The northeastern Japanese prefecture is "the only place in the world to have ever experienced an earthquake, tsunami, nuclear accident and reputational damage all at once,"

Sorry but the "reputational" damage came quite a bit afterwards, and the government and TEPCO carry the blame for that one, and to be honest, it is totally deserved!

The triple disaster? There were four disasters. Yes, there were two natural disasters, the earthquake and the tsunami. However, the meltdowns were a manmade disaster due to poor maintenance, fraudulent safety reports and disregarding safety upgrades. The fourth disaster is the lack of compensation for the victims of the manmade disaster, most of which are still living in temporary or billeted accommodation. And, because the 'trustworthy' Japanese government has lifted the evacuation order on many areas, these people no longer receive any assistance and must move back to ghost towns with little infrastructure and dubious safety checks. What a wonderfull scenario, NOT!

Who can have "hope" in visiting where food and water are contaminated?

Fair judgement of safety by organizations (not Jp govt) is necessary, at least!

Fans of dark tourism often visit locations like Cambodia's "killing fields" where genocide by the Khmer Rouge took place in the 1970s

Comparing Khmer rouge with Fukushima? Khmer rouge they don't leave any radioactive waste afterward that can endanger next generation.

 a new type of tourism it calls "hope tourism," aimed at going beyond the "dark tourism" in which people visit places of tragedy.

Try to put hope more properly, like hoping to handle current Fukushima water waste,

https://japantoday.com/category/national/TEPCO-apologizes-for-still-radioactive-water-at-Fukushima-plant

If you read the article, this is actually small scale and mostly organized study trips for high schoolers. Trademarking "hope tourism" to do this strikes me as a waste of money. This idea is not commercially valuable.

One thing I have seen in Tohoku's reconstruction is photos of vast new sea walls that tower over buildings and completely hide the sea. If I am honest, they fill me with despair, not hope.

Who would want to visit the site of an active nuclear meltdown?

Hope tourists? Think they hope people come but I'm suspicious that a bus load of goths, and ghouls might not be what they are expecting.

The reason they call it 'Hope Tourism' is because they hope there will be some tourism.

I think there's a place for this kind of educational tourism, as long as people come with the right attitude. It is a local initiative, after all, and the area has been hard hit economically.

My concern would be the opposite, that Fukushima Prefecture will be essentially hitting lots of well-meaning schoolkids and groups from other organizations, neighbourhood associations, rotary clubs etc. with a one-sided PR exercise. I bet the locals they introduce you to on the tours are all on message and won't criticize the local government. I suspect you'd get more representative opinions by hanging out at small businesses, mom and pop shops, little counter izakayas, stalls selling veggies etc.

hoping is something nice but not in Fukushima no one want to go to a place that been in a nuke radiation zone and most of the places are closed to public also dangerous.

Please focus on bringing tourism back to Fukushima prefecture which lies in an absolutely beautiful region, plenty of things to see and to do I travelled inside Fukushima prefecture for quite a bit last year and had a really good time.

Do not send people to areas where it might still be dangerous as it would have a negative backlash on the whole region.

"The number still living in emergency accommodation are down to about 40,000. That too is due to end next year."

40,000 Japanese nationals STILL living in emergency accomodation! And that's down from a previous higher number. This is vile, through no fault of their own their whole life is now a battle. 3rd biggest economy in the world can't even look after its own?

what happens next year? They are given a card board box and told not to go to Tokyo.

An absolute disgrace on Japan, I'd give money but there's no guarantee it won't be used to count turtles.