Fukushima Beyond the Headlines: Ouchi-juku's Thatched Streets and Aizu Castle

Fukushima prefecture is large, and the areas most affected by the 2011 nuclear accident are a specific coastal stretch, not the whole prefecture. Popular inland destinations like Aizu and the Bandai region are geographically distant from that site and have operated as normal tourist areas for years. If you're curious about current conditions in any specific coastal area, it's worth checking recent official guidance rather than relying on general impressions.

Ouchi-juku is a former post town on an old Edo-period travel route, preserved with thatched-roof buildings now serving as soba restaurants and craft shops. It's particularly striking under snow in winter, and negi soba — eating soba using a whole green onion instead of chopsticks — is a local novelty worth trying once. It's rural and best reached with a car or a planned bus connection.

Aizu-Wakamatsu's Tsuruga Castle (a rebuilt concrete reconstruction, not the original wooden structure) anchors a city with a strong samurai history, including the story of the Byakkotai — a group of young samurai who died here during the Boshin War. Nearby Lake Inawashiro and the Bandai-Azuma skyline area offer easy nature stops if you have a car.