The last words that a Fukushima dairy farmer said to his wife in the Philippines over the phone on the morning of June 10, 2011, was to make sure that she and their children ate well, stayed healthy and didn't return to Japan.
Later that day, he hanged himself at his farm in Soma. His Filipino wife, Vanessa Abordo Kanno, and their two sons had fled to the Philippines after the nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. Shigekiyo Kanno had remained to look after the farm.
More than a year and a half after her husband's suicide, Kanno, 34, is ready to stand up against Tokyo Electric Power Co. and is preparing to sue it for ¥110 million in damages over his death.