Tomioka: Population: 1

Here's a video from Associated Press about the Town of Tomioka, Fukushima-ken, Japan that talks about its population of one. One lone farmer and a few of his animals.

The video does not really talk about what Tomioka's population was before March 11, 2011, but prior to that, the town had an estimated population of 15,839 with 6,293 households. In the map above, Tomioka is in black,

You can see that news video HERE.

But, what the video does not go into much detail about, is how the town is the location of the Fukushima II Nuclear power plant (Dai-ni), not to be confused with the Dai-ichi plant that nearly went nuclear three times in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Tohoku area of northeastern Japan. Both nuclear facilities are owned by TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company).

In the aftermath of the earthquake, all four of Dai-ni's nuclear reactors automatically shut down. Despite this, an evacuation order was issued to people within a three kilometer (1.9 mile) radius of the plant. It was eventually expanded to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), and was again superseded by the 20 kilometer evacuation zone due to the Dai-ichi (Fukushima I) power plant's nuclear mishaps.

Back on March 11, 2011, Dai-ni was hit by a 9.0 meter high tsunami wave while Dai-ichi was reportedly hit by a 13.0 meter high tsunami. 

Tomioka, situated on the coast, was hit hard by the tsunami and 9.0 Magnitude earthquake. One year later on March 11, 2012, as the lone farmer will attest, residents are still not allowed back into the devastated area within the 20 kilometer radius.

Files compiled by Andrew Joseph