FUKUSHIMA, Japan _ An hour north of Tokyo by way of bullet train, the land is lush and green, framed by thickly wooded mountains in the distance.
This vast rural prefecture in northeast Japan was once renowned for its fruit orchards, but much has changed.
"There has been a bad reputation here," a local government official said.
Since the spring of 2011, the world has known Fukushima for the massive earthquake and tsunami that killed approximately 16,000 people along the coast. Flooding triggered a nuclear plant meltdown that forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.
As the recovery process continues nearly a decade later, organizers of the 2020 Summer Games say they want to help.
Under the moniker of the "Reconstruction Olympics," they have plotted a torch relay course that begins near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant and continues through adjacent prefectures _ Miyagi and Iwate _ impacted by the disaster. The region will host games in baseball, softball and soccer next summer.
"We are hoping that, through sports, we can give the residents new dreams," said Takahiro Sato, director of Fukushima's office of Olympic and Paralympic promotions. "We also want to show how far we've come."
The effort has drawn mixed reactions, if only because the so-called "affected areas" are a sensitive topic in Japan.
Some people worry about exposure to lingering radiation; they accuse officials of whitewashing health risks. Critics question spending millions on sports while communities are still rebuilding.
"The people from that area have dealt with these issues for so long and so deeply, the Olympics are kind of a transient event," said Kyle Cleveland, an associate professor of sociology at Temple University's campus in Japan. "They're going to see this as a public relations ploy."
