Bidding family and close friends farewell is never easy, but American Travis Hauan said his parents and girlfriend were "pretty cool" about it — even though he was heading thousands of kilometers away to Fukushima Prefecture amid the ongoing nuclear crisis.
"My parents asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this. And I just told them that I am," the 24-year-old Hauan, who teaches English mainly to junior high school students as an assistant language teacher, told The Japan Times.
One of the schools he teaches at is located about 35 km from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, only 15 km outside the government-designated exclusion zone.