[Ian Hanomansing] The Olympic flame in Tokyo
supporters see it as a symbol of renewal
the world's eyes on Japan as it inspires hope in challenging times.
In fact, the flame's first stop in Japan before the torch took it over to Tokyo
was specifically chosen to carry that message.
It started in Fukushima prefecture
for organizers who wanted to show Japan's Olympic rebirth
a perfect starting point.
But the choice was also a focal point for critics.
A decade ago, Fukushima was the scene of Japan's worst nuclear disaster.
The start of Japan's Olympic journey, a place with deep scars.
Adrienne went to Fukushima to take stock of the Olympic promise there firsthand.
Adrienne?
Ian, there was a lot of thought put into how Fukushima
would play into the Olympics.
How the recovery of it would
so some of the food in the athletes village
came from Fukushima, the flowers you see presented to the athletes
in those medal ceremonies, they all came from Fukushima.
All of those are little details designed to suggest confidence
but as always the reality on the ground is a lot more complicated.
[Reporter] Serenaded by the cicadas, a dream is dismantled.
The barriers of baseball, built to direct fans who didn't come
now torn down even before the Olympic cauldron is turned off.
And that is Fukushima's Olympic story
all dressed up to show the world its recovery
but no one able to see it.
And yes, people seem as deflated as the streets are quiet.
[Resident] I was looking forward to many people from many countries visiting here
and interacting with them.
So I'm disappointed.
[Reporter] Consider what they've been through.
It was a decade ago that Fukushima was dealt a staggering blow
an earthquake so strong it pushed the sea floor up 16 stories
a tsunami that killed so many and washed away entire villages
also flooded the nuclear plant.
Unable to keep reactors cool, it exploded.
When that radioactive cloud moved north
150,000 people in the way moved out.
Only a small percentage have come back.
Those returning to the once abandoned Iitate village find Nobuyoshi Ito waiting.
He stayed thinking he could help with clean up and monitor the radiation.
What he sees still makes him mad.
So you don't want people to come back here?
[Ito] Yes, that's right.
The government has to declare this as a place where people should not live.
[Reporter] The trouble is trust.
He insists the government has been downplaying risks from moment one
so he collects soil samples from farms, from the woods, from his own yard
and he still sees danger.
While there's always background radiation, no matter where you are
when numbers climb next to the soil
it is, he says, proof contamination lingers.
Too much of it, in his mind.
[Ito] It will take 300 years to restore the village to its original state
and it will continue to emit radiation for 300 years.
So the reality is that no matter how much money we spend on reconstruction
from the nuclear accident
it will never be the same.
[Reporter] But Japan is spending.
It's one of the world's most expensive restoration projects.
Sports complexes, hotels, incentives offered to those who return.
Radiation level signs are posted everywhere.
They're meant to reassure.
Often they don't, neither do scenes like this.
The frozen-in-time world of Futaba
just four-and-a-half kilometres from the stricken nuclear plant.
A place where calendars and clocks are stuck
on the moment disaster struck.
Homes and workplaces fled in an instant
untouched in a decade.
Some of Futaba is being rebuilt, but not all
just as some of nearby Tomioka is ready for returnees
but definitely not all.
The warnings outside one housing complex declare it's a no-go zone.
It is not at all hard to have empathy for the people of Fukushima when they say
they're not sure what is and is not safe.
We're in an exclusion zone.
The area behind these gates is totally cut off
the parking lot overgrown
the homes abandoned, this feels like a ghost town
but across the street, it's okay, the lights are on and somebody's home.
[Reporter] There are lots of contradictions.
The rice paddies flourishing alongside fields
now stacked with hundreds of thousands of bags of contaminated radiated soil.
It's a cruel crop sprouting all over Fukushima.
A permanent location for all of it may be 25 years away at least.
Until then, the site unnerves.
As do they.
The feral boar who moved in when people left.
They bred with domesticated pigs and roamed freely over radiated earth.
They have to be hunted before it's safe for humans to go back.
Those that lurk still are a threat for farmers trying to make a go of it.
Are they a problem, the wild boar?
[Farmer] Yes, every time.
Because once farmers come back here and grow the agriculture products
Especially just before harvesting
wild boar come.
[Reporter] The boar can be managed
the fear is harder.
Which is why farmer Munai Okano and agricultural scientist Masaru Mizoguchi
wanted to show off the vegetables.
They've learned to grow them safely
test the food and soil consistently.
[Reporter] So you believe the food is safe?
[Mizoguchi] Yes, of course, I'm always surprising all people
who don't believe that this kind of fruits or vegetable is safe.
Did you not believe it at first?
Were you worried at first?
[Mizoguchi] No, I am the soil scientist
so I understand what occurs in the fields just after the earthquake.
[Reporter] Those with questions are showered with test results and documents.
And while few residents have returned and most are elderly
he wants others to know he thinks it's okay to do so.
This comfort makes him unusual though and it's costing relationships.
Mizoguchi used to be closer with Nobuyoshi Ito.
Now, their dueling data has pulled them apart.
When you hear Tokyo 2020 talk about the recovery Olympics
what do you think when you hear that?
It is all lies and deceit isn't it?
Because is anyone recovering?
Iitate village had 6,500 people before the accident
but only 1,400 have returned.
What happened to the others?
It's only when those people return
that you can say things have recovered.
[Reporter] Tokyo 2020 didn't get to shine a spotlight for the world on Fukushima.
Those still here just want to make sure when the Olympics are done
the work doesn't disappear, too.
So it is a beautiful part of the world and when we were in Fukushima city
we were approached by a lot of people who talked about how disappointed
they were, how they wanted to mingle with the rest of the world.
You know, the volunteers in particular who had wanted to sign up
as a way of saying thank you to everyone who supported them
were especially sad to be told they just weren't needed anymore.
Ian?