At the entrance of a sports gymnasium in Fukushima city earlier this month, a doctor wearing a white hat, mask and gloves was seen holding a radiation monitor over the hands of a visiting resident.

The doctor then held it over the person's forehead, abdomen and back. The resident was then asked to raise their heels to check the back of the shoes at the end of the procedure to get a reading on the monitor.

After the series of problems at one of the country's largest nuclear power plant, these radiation screenings have been conducted at the entrance of shelters in Fukushima Prefecture since March 13, two days after the devastating quake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. They are intended to check if a resident has been exposed to radiation.

''Certificates'' are then issued by the doctors to those who have been declared free of any abnormality.

But these certificates have come to be an unexpected function in the community that has become nervous about anything radioactive. Some shelters have started demanding that certificates be presented before any residents evacuating from the nuclear disaster are admitted.