On 23 June 2013 during a meeting with evacuees from the Miyakoji district of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture and central government officials, the announcement was made that the residents would be allowed to return to their homes mid August 2013, although the radiation levels in residential areas still ranged between 0.32 and 0.54 microsievert per hour, much higher than the government's goal of 0.23 microsievert per hour.

When asked, the officials refused to prolong the decontamination efforts, they argued that radiation exposures would differ for every person.

Instead the officials offered the evacuees a new-type dosimeter because they wanted the people to check their own radiation exposures, and in this way to take responsibility for their own safety.

The effort was described as futile, and radioactive waste was not collected properly[citation needed] [1][2][3] and disposed of, and sometimes dumped into rivers.

However, spokesmen of the Japan Environment Ministry denied all, even when they were confronted with the existence of audio recordings of the meeting, that proved otherwise.