Current Time in Fukushima, Japan

Fukushima is the capital of Fukushima Prefecture in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, set in a wide basin ringed by mountains about two hundred and seventy kilometres north of Tokyo. The Abukuma River flows through the city, while the volcanic peaks of the Azuma range rise to the west and Mount Adatara stands to the south. Summers in the basin are humid and surprisingly hot, and winters bring cold winds and moderate snow, a combination that has proved ideal for fruit growing.

Around two hundred and seventy five thousand people live in the city. It serves as the administrative and commercial centre of a prefecture that is one of the largest in Japan by area, and its name became known worldwide after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which lies about sixty kilometres away on the Pacific coast. The city itself was never evacuated, and today it functions as a normal regional capital and as a base for the long recovery of the coastal districts.

The area grew as a castle town and a centre of silk production during the Edo period, and raw silk from Fukushima was an important export in the decades after Japan opened to foreign trade. The old castle site, the Kosei area and a number of merchant houses recall that period, while the surrounding countryside preserves temples and shrines that are considerably older.

Fukushima is best known for its fruit and its hot springs. A road on the western edge of the city, known as the Fruit Line, passes orchard after orchard where visitors pick peaches, cherries, grapes, pears and apples according to the season, and the region is one of the leading peach producers in Japan. Hanamiyama Park, a private hillside of flowering trees opened to the public by its farming owner, becomes a famous mass of pink and white each April with the snow capped Azuma mountains behind it. Iizaka Onsen, a hot spring resort with a history said to stretch back many centuries, lies within the city limits and offers old bathhouses and quiet riverside streets, while Tsuchiyu Onsen is known for its painted kokeshi wooden dolls.

The Bandai Azuma Skyline, a mountain highway that climbs past the steaming crater of Mount Azuma Kofuji, is one of the finest scenic drives in Tohoku. In summer the city fills for the Waraji Festival, in which an enormous straw sandal is carried through the streets in a tradition linked to the shrine on Mount Shinobu.

Fukushima Station is a stop on the Tohoku Shinkansen, putting Tokyo within about ninety minutes, and it is also the junction for the Yamagata Shinkansen. Local railways, a private line to Iizaka and a network of buses serve the basin.

Fukushima University and several colleges and medical institutions give the city an academic role, with research into agriculture, renewable energy and environmental recovery attracting particular attention. For visitors, Fukushima offers orchards, mountains, hot springs and a resilient local spirit that has come to define the region.