One of the worst-kept secrets on television is the location of Dash Village, a remote farm that was built by the boy band Tokio in the late 1990s. It has since been maintained by the quintet as part of a running feature on their Sunday night Nihon TV variety show "Tetsuwan Dash," and in order to discourage the group's fans from dropping by and possibly spoiling the pristine tract of land, which is surrounded by thick forests, its whereabouts have never been revealed on the show itself. However, resourceful viewers have known for years that it is somewhere in the wilds of Fukushima Prefecture and have talked about it on the Internet.
Last week, the program named the location for the first time, since it happens to fall within the evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor. Fans who suspected as much were concerned about the livestock kept there, and news outlets had already reported that the sheep and goats had been transferred to Gunma Prefecture. In one of the show's segments, Tokio leader Shigeru Joshima visited some people from the surrounding area who in the past have helped the group do things such as make pickles and dig wells. Some of them have had to leave their homes and are now living with relatives outside the evacuation zone.
Because Tokio have a stake in the region, their relationship to the disaster is more immediate than it is for other celebrities who are not from the Tohoku region but have lent their support for relief efforts. Joshima didn't take money or supplies to his friends in Fukushima. He merely dropped in to see how they were, and they told him their stories as they would to a neighbor. Nobody ventured to say when and where they would be able to return, or whether Tokio would ever reopen Dash Village.