this is kitaizumi beach, some 70km from the centre of fu kushima city.lieve now, this beach was once one of the most popular surfing destinations injapan. surfing was popularised injapan in the 1960s, when american gis stationed here headed for the beaches, armed with their boards, and the surf scene has been growing ever since. but at 2:a6pm on march 11, 2011, everything changed when,100km up the coast, disaster struck. a nine magnitude earthquake triggered the most devastating tsunami injapanese history. person wails. deadly 14—metre waves engulfed entire communities, breaking down the walls of the daiichi nuclear power station, triggering four days of catastrophic failures to the reactor�*s cooling systems, releasing radioactivity and leading to an evacuation order covering a 12—mile radius. this man's home was washed away. in total, the disaster claimed over 18,000 lives. sadly, events organised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of this horrific moment have been cancelled or scaled back, due to the pandemic. today, a decade on, after a $20 billion

this is kitaizumi beach, some 70km from the centre of fukushima city.king down the walls of the daiichi nuclear power station, triggering four days of catastrophic failures to the reactor�*s cooling systems, releasing radioactivity and leading to an evacuation order covering a 12—mile radius. this man's home was washed away. in total, the disaster claimed over 18,000 lives. sadly, events organised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of this horrific moment have been cancelled or scaled back, due to the pandemic. today, a decade on, after a $20 billion clean—up operation, the government says as much as 97% of the prefecture is safe to visit. locals are returning to live and domestic tourism is on the up, partly thanks to these surfers. suzuki—san was one of the first people back in the water. and they did return. kitaizumi officially opened in 2019 after the community pulled together by cleaning up the beach and hiring lifeguards. and today, despite the water being about six degrees, there are plenty of surfers out. so how long have you been surfing? it'