A winery located in an area of Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan that was briefly evacuated after the 2011 nuclear disaster is hoping to become a driving force for local reconstruction efforts.
Kawauchi Winery in the village of Kawauchi has been expanding its sales channels to other prefectures, with its vineyard and facilities recently garnering attention as a tourist attraction.
“It’s grown over the past 10 years, but there’s still more to do,” said Hideya Kitamura, director of Kawauchi Winery.
The village was one of many in the region that was evacuated in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, which was triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami on 11 March 2011.
Volunteers and residents of the village came together in 2016 to plant around 2,000 vines on a hill located at an elevation of approximately 750 meters. There were 10,000 by 2018. The winery, which opened in 2021, is a joint public-private corporation invested in by the village. It began selling bottles of wine the following year, with stores in Saitama, Chiba and Shizuoka prefectures stocking the brand.
Kyodo
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