Eight Japanese children coping with contamination worries in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011, which displaced about 100,000 residents, spent the week away from their prefecture, romping in the outdoors of the Big Island.

Higashi Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii flew the children — ages 9 to 13 — along with two chaperones to the island for seven days “of sun and fun in Hawaii, a chance to play outside their homes and at the beach, without the worry of radiation exposure,” said Faye Shigemura, president of the Higashi board of directors.

Members from the mission’s five temples on Oahu, Kauai and Hawaii island donated $15,000 make the group’s vacation possible.

“I believe they’re so happy to feel the nature, even touching the soil — which their mothers scold them not to touch — feeling the sun on their bare feet,” said the Rev. Hiroko Maeda of the Kaneohe temple. “They are so happy to swim in the ocean. Hawaii is the best place they can feel the nature.”

Since arriving Monday, the group has enjoyed swimming, canoe paddling and surf lessons. “They love it!” Maeda said. In addition, they toured Japan’s Subaru Telescope facility and the nearby ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, attended a bon dance, learned how to make poi and weave lau hala, and visited a horse ranch. “They’re so wild” with excitement and energy, she said.

Shigemura said the weeklong visit marks the third year in a row Higashi Mission has brought the children to Hawaii, a project initiated by Palolo Hongwanji’s the Rev. Noriaki Fujimori in 2014.

The first two years, children were selected for the trip by Higashi members in Japan, and the groups spent a week on Kauai, funded mostly by a nonprofit in Japan.

This year, Shigemura said, “We realized the huge problem throughout the affected communities,” and opened their invitation to everyone.

The Hawaii temples conducted their own fundraising to have full control over the selection process. Plus, their Kyoto headquarters chipped in, she said. Honolulu Fukushima Kenjin Kai, whose members have family members from the prefecture, also donated lunch when the group arrived.

The visitors and local volunteers are staying at a spacious house in Mountain View owned by Kaneohe temple member Walter Herring. They return to Japan on Monday.

“Plane fares are our largest expense at a little over $11,000. To keep the cost of flying to a minimum, we try to keep the ages of children below the adult-fare age,” she said. In the future Higashi would like to include high school students and help “as many less fortunate families as possible,” Shigemura said.

Children were selected for the this year’s visit based on letters submitted by their mothers, Shigemura said.

“Their plea to us was to enable their children to freely play outside … even if just for one week,” said Shigemura, who joined the children with other temple members Friday on Hawaii island.

The meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima power plant resulted from the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March five years ago. On top of the initial huge loss of life and destruction, evacuees are suffering from stress-related and other maladies resulting from the triple disaster, according to news reports.

“It was so hard for us to decide” which children to select from 42 applications, Maeda said. Some mothers wrote in heart-wrenching detail, describing health concerns, how their homes were destroyed, being unable to afford evacuation and having no place to go. Even though the government has reassured them the fruits and vegetables are safe to eat, the mothers still expressed doubt, she said.

“Every single day they think of how they can protect their children from radiation, and you can see the mothers’ frustration as well. We had a difficult time to select (just) eight children, because all mothers love their children and want to protect them,” said Maeda, who accompanied the four girls and four boys the entire week.