Google Street View gives virtual tour of Fukushima ghost town in Japan

The deserted Tomioka highway in Namie, Japan Credit: Google Street View

Google Street View has captured images of a Japanese ghost town, created when the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear disaster which left the area uninhabitable.

Read: Japan mourns tsunami victims one year on

The 21,000 residents of Namie have been unable to return to the city since they fled the radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant two years ago.

A collapsed building spills into the street of Namie Credit: Google Street View

Read: A year on have the lessons been learned from Fukushima?

Through images captured by Google's camera-equipped vehicles, web browsers are able to take virtual tours through the deserted town, showing abandoned highways and collapsed buildings.

Abandoned shops in the city of Namie, Japan Credit: Google Street View