The Fukushima accident is a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan that began on March 11, 2011. As a result, three of the station’s six nuclear reactors melted down. The accident occurred when the plant was hit by a tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. The next day, March 12, the release of a significant amount of radioactive material began. This was the largest nuclear incident since the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. Although there were no reports of deaths due to short-term radiation exposure, about 300,000 people were evacuated from the area. For various reasons, people could not take their pets or livestock with them when evacuating.

This is where Naoto Matsumura enters the scene. He is a 55-year-old construction worker who returned to the evacuated area to care for abandoned animals. Why would he do this, you ask? Because they needed him.

Every day he is there, he risks his health and safety by caring for the many  animals that  were abandoned during the evacuation.

Here he feeds and cares for other people’s livestock and domestic animals.

He became known as the Fukushima Animal Guardian.

It is clear that he is a big animal lover.

He knows that every day while he is there, his body is exposed to strong radiation.

He says he refuses to think about it. However, he takes some steps, using only products imported into the zone.

He left when everyone was evacuated, but then returned to take care of the animals.

Currently, he is the only person brave enough to live in the evacuation zone.

Some people call him radioactive man.

Kind of a superhero.

But Naoto doesn’t consider himself a hero.

Initially, Naoto returned to take care of his animals. He said he really  had nowhere else to go.

Then he noticed all the other animals that needed help.

“I was told that I would not get sick for 30 or 40 years. I’ll most likely be dead by then, so I don’t care,” says Naoto.

Many of the animals were tied up by their owners, so he set them free.

The government forbade him to stay, but he’s still there.