Katsuaki Yokota takes care of grape vines in Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture.
In an effort to revitalize itself from the 2011 accident at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the village of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture has begun growing grapes in a bid to start a wine business and create employment opportunities in the area.
Many former residents have not returned even after the evacuation order which had been issued on a part of the village was completely lifted in June last year. To restore the community and encourage more people to come back, the village hopes to start producing wine before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics so it can be promoted at home and abroad.
Rows of young grape vines can be seen on a 3-hectare slope surrounded by the mountains at an altitude of roughly 700 meters. Last year, villagers planted some 2,100 grape vines there and in April, some 300 volunteers, including students of Fukushima University and Koriyama Women’s University in the prefecture as well as some Tokyo residents, planted about 7,800 trees.
Kawauchi officials and residents are cooperating closely to build a “wine village,” with a group of villagers growing grapes on a village-owned land and the village and the local chamber of commerce setting up a council to engage in wine production and sales.
Tadaaki Endo, who heads the group of grape growers, was a dairy farmer before the disaster and used to grow grass on the village-owned land. “I had to give up dairy farming after the disaster. Revitalizing the village with wine is an idea filled with dreams,” Endo said.
Katsuyuki Yokota, 62, a member of a community revitalization group engaged in the project, said: “Wine has the power to bring people together and bring out the flavors in foods. We want to contribute to launching the wine business and creating an environment for people who left the village to return.”
The entire village was ordered to evacuate right after the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami started the nuclear calamity. The order was lifted completely in June last year, but 500 out of 2,700 former residents have not yet come back.
As the village was seeking ways to bring back the people, Japan Wine Innovation Society – a group of wine manufacturers working to recover disaster-hit regions through growing wine grapes – suggested that the village start wine production and offered help.
Currently, eight wine grape varieties including Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are grown in the vineyards. The villagers have so far permanently planted 10,000 vines, and plan to expand the cultivation area to have 20,000 vines in total.
They are looking to start test production in fall, aiming at starting full production in 2019 in time for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. They are also considering building a winery, an inn and a restaurant on a land overlooking the vineyards.