Issue:

Shunsuke and Yoko Sato in their workshop in Fukushima city, 60 km from Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant, Dec. 22, 2012. Drawn by Fukushima's disproportionately large number of violin players , the couple moved from Tokyo to open their musical instrument workshop, Grune Schurze.

These photographs show young people pursuing creative careers in Fukushima, two years after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.

While many people with small children have taken health precautions and left the prefecture, there is a growing number of young people returning to the area or moving there for the first time to pursue their creative careers. Apart from the three featured here, the series features an eyeglass designer (specializing in completely wooden eyeglasses), an 18th-generation doll maker, a silk weaver in the region’s 400-year-old silk-weaving tradition, and a popular DJ and master florist.

Because of the area’s express rail connections, the abundant nature and onsen, the area has always been an attractive location. Following 3/11, the area is attracting young people with a creative vision for Japan.

Sanyo Nishimori making washi paper in Mihama city, 50 km from the nuclear plant, Jan. 27, 2013. Despite the issue of radioactivity, the conditions are ideal for making high-quality Japanese paper, he says. He has invested ¥10 million in his new workshop.
Mariko Kinoshita, right, at Ringo House, in Fukushima City, Dec. 22, 2012. Kinoshita, a former magazine editor, converted the house into an inn and salon that hosts young business and creative people from Tokyo who come to Fukushima to investigate the situation in the post-disaster region and to discuss ways to improve the wellbeing of people in the area.

Everett Kennedy Brown is a writer, fine art photographer, and former bureau chief of European Pressphoto Agency. His latest book is 日本力