Fukushima surfer, shop owner alarmed at water release plan, fears 'contaminated sea'

Koji Suzuki, 66, a surfer and a surf shop owner, holds his surfboard at Karasuzaki beach, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Akira Tomoshige

MINAMISOMA, Japan (Reuters) - Koji Suzuki's surf shop, which he first opened in 1989, was washed away by the devastating tsunami that hit northeast Japan in March 2011. But that did not kill his love of the sea.

The 66-year-old reopened Sun Marine Surf in November of the following year in a new location in Minamisoma city, a few kilometres from the coast, and he visits the beaches of Fukushima Prefecture daily to surf.