With neon signs in the city of Fukushima switched off due to power shortages, making nighttime darker than usual, Hiroaki Ohno gazed up one night following the March 11 disaster and felt a sense of awe.
From his home he could clearly observe the Milky Way and the constellations. "I thought that maybe we have been using too much electricity and this is the way it should be," Ohno, director of the Hoshi no Mura Observatory in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, told The Japan Times last week.
Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the 62-year-old has been carrying small telescopes in his car and visiting evacuation sites, encouraging children and adults alike to look at the clearly visible stars above them.