Japan commemorates March 11 quake and tsunami disaster which triggered the on-going nuclear crisis in Fukushima.

Kiwi journalist David Farrier has caught the attention of Japanese authorities over his video tour of Fukushima as part of his Dark Tourist series on Netflix.

The Japanese Government is considering taking action, concerned the content could fuel fears about the area. It said many of the surrounding towns and villages are safe for residents to return to, but Farrier only found zones that were completely deserted.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan happened after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. It is the largest nuclear disaster since the one at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Film-maker David Farrier visited Fukushima as part of his Dark Tourist series, and it appears Japanese authorities are not happy with what he reported.

So was Farrier's documentary a fair reflection of Fukushima?

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Kiwi Iris Riddell, who has lived in the region for almost two years, felt the documentary was not a true representation of daily life in the prefecture.

SUPPLIED Iris Riddell loves the landscapes around Fukushima.

LIVING NEXT DOOR TO RADIATION

"I thought it was a bit sensationalist actually," said Riddell from her home in Minamisōma, 35 kilometres from the disabled nuclear power plant.

"This whole thing is a real shame, because I'm actually a big fan of Farrier's work."

SUPPLIED Solar-powered radiation meter outside the Minamisoma Public Library. Its reading is 0.163 millisieverts per hour - well within a safe range.

Farrier declined to comment on Monday, but he has previously told Stuff going to Fukushima was stressful when the film crew realised radiation levels were far above what's considered safe.

"We had these numbers, but that kind of goes out the window when you're in a spot and your Geiger meter is screaming at you, and everyone in the team is already tired and then they're panicked that they're going to get cancer in like 20 years," he said.

The episode has added to the growing debate about the rise of disaster tourism, a controversial topic for people in the area.

CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES Farrier's documentary portrays dangerous levels of radiation, but authorities say it's not like that in most parts of Fukushima. (File photo)

"On the one hand people say it's a good thing to see what happened here and how the region is recovering. But on the other hand people are saying it's terrible to capitalise on disaster, and people should be respectful and keep clear."

Another contentious issue from the documentary was the the question around food safety, Riddell said.

"The prefecture has extremely tight testing procedures for all food produced in the area and if there is even a chance that it is contaminated, it will never reach the public for consumption," she said.

IRIS RIDDELL Riddell visited the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant on an organised tour.

"Of course [Farrier] would focus on radiation, and that side of things, but it didn't reflect what life is like for most people living in this prefecture on a day-to-day basis."

Riddell, 27, is an assistant language teacher. She works with Japanese teachers to deliver an English curriculum to all pupils at the school.

She had a similar tour through the exclusion zone in August, with hand-held radiation meters to keep track of the levels they were encountering.

IRIS RIDDELL Riddell also visited the nearby towns of Okuma and Futaba, both are uninhabited due to the proximity to the plant.

"I don't know when he filmed it, but we never got readings anywhere near as high."

The average levels in Minamisōma are in line with normal levels everywhere else in the world, she said.

"Spending a year in Minamisōma is the same exposure to getting a dental X-ray," she said.

IRIS RIDDELL The tour organisers provide radiation meters. Riddell said this reading was fine for a few hours, but well and truly outside habitable range.

RADIATION LEVELS

In February, The Independent reported lethal levels of radiation were still being detected seven years after the plant meltdown.

Experts told a Japanese state broadcaster exposure to that volume of radiation for just an hour could kill and could trigger a global disaster.

SUPPLIED Riddell says the Fukushima prefecture is still full of beauty.

The testing revealed eight sieverts per hour of radiation, while 42 units were also detected outside its foundations.

A sievert measures the probability of cancer induction and genetic damage from exposure to a dose of radiation, according to the International Commission on Radiological Protection. One sievert carries with it a 5.5 per cent chance of eventually developing cancer.

But the director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, Richard Black, told The Independent that although the radiation levels identified were high, it was very unlikely a threat to human health because apart from workers at the site, no-one goes there.

"What this does demonstrate is that, seven years after the disaster, cleaning up the Fukushima site remains a massive challenge – and one that we're going to be reading about for decades, never mind years," Black said.

Many evacuated people remain unable to fully return home owing to government-mandated restrictions based on conservative radiation exposure criteria, according to the World Nuclear Association.

The October 2013 International Atomic Energy Agency report found many evacuees should be allowed to return home.

RED ZONE

No-one is allowed to enter the red zone, but it can be passed through on designated roads. Walking and riding a bicycle, motorcycle, or other two-wheeled vehicles is banned.

THE COSTLIEST NATURAL DISASTER IN HISTORY

As at June 2016, the number of confirmed deaths was 15,894, according Japan's Reconstruction Agency. More than 2,500 people are still reported missing.

The earthquake struck 130 kilometres offshore and was a rare and complex double quake giving a shake duration of about three minutes.

Eleven reactors at four nuclear power plants were operating in the region, all shut down automatically when the quake hit, according to the World Nuclear Association.

The reactors withstood the earthquake, but it was the looming tsunami that was to cause the most damage. Three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi lost power almost an hour after the quake when the entire site was flooded by the 15-metre tsunami.

The reactors lost the ability to maintain proper reactor cooling and water circulation functions, the electrical switchgear also disabled.

More than 120,000 buildings were destroyed, 278,000 were half-destroyed and 726,000 were partially destroyed.

The direct financial damage from the disaster is estimated to be about $230 billion (about 16.9 trillion yen), according to the Japanese government.

The World Bank estimated the total economic cost could exceed $280 billion making it the costliest natural disaster in world history.

​SIGNS FUKUSHIMA IS REBUILDING

Riddell said there are signs everywhere that people are returning to the prefecture.

"Last year my kindergarten had three students, this year I have 14 which is a huge increase, and shows families are moving back."

Similarly the students at the school she also teaches at live in the region they study, she said.

"Three years ago this was still in the red zone, the growth that's happened here is phenomenal," Riddell said.