&nbsp;&nbsp;The Japan Atomic Energy Agency decontaminated schools, playgrounds, swimming pools, and houses in nonevacuated, less-contaminated areas in Fukushima for environmental restoration. A small, 150 m² playground lot in the residential area was chosen for decontamination demonstration, which used routinely available tools and commodities to carry out the work. The surfaces of playground lot equipment, such as swings, slides, and horizontal iron bars, were completely decontaminated by brushing with water and/or detergent. Side gutters around the playground lot were cleaned by removing the mud and then brushed and washed with a high-pressure water jet (7 MPa). The air dose rate at the playground lot was dominated by radiation from the ground surface and adjacent surroundings, such as apartments and rice fields. Two or three centimeters of the surface soil contaminated with cesium was removed manually with shovels, hoes, and other gardening tools. This significantly reduced the average air dose rate of the entire playground lot from 1.5 &mu;Sv/h before decontamination to 0.6 &mu;Sv/h. These results showed that ground surface decontamination can contribute measurably to the reduction in air dose rate in relatively small areas in residential areas.<br>