Stop Melting Down

Writing from Kyoto--I’ve delayed updating as I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to say something that might contribute to--rather than simply repeat--what’s been said in the international media. For four days, we in Japan have been bombarded with headlines indicating a slowly unfolding apocalypse. The Japanese government’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant incident has been, I think, very alert. They are clearly focused on managing the situation as it develops. Their public relations response has been a total fiasco. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, in his blue jump suit, has taken to the podium sometimes several times a day to make reassurances that directly conflict with the evermore chaotic scenes behind him. Nothing is less reassuring than a government appearing on television daily to tell you to be calm. A twitter campaign has started up in Japan literally urging Edano to get some sleep.

Finally, Prime Minister Kan today took the long-overdue step of asking each prefecture to collect radiation data and report it. Hopefully this will help relieve a nervous public.

What is constantly left out of the media reports about water-levels falling and radiation levels spiking, (reports which I have repeated and re-reported at times), is a simple fact--not once in four days, not in Tokyo, Kyoto, or anywhere beyond the evacuation zone, have radiation levels reached a dangerous point. Yes, this is the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. But, as this New York Times story points out, the comparison is flawed. We don't know what Chernobyl means, we just know it scares the hell out of us.

Yet many are fleeing Tokyo (and some have taken up in my apartment), flights out of this country are booked; there have been reports of food hording; and hedge fund managers are selling in panic, as evidenced by the 1,000+ plunge on the Nikkei stock exchange on Monday.

I wish I could say it better than Reuters columnist Gregg Easterbrook in this excellent blog post. His message is a vital one: calm the hell down.

Sad news from the tsunami-damaged North comes daily. We have confirmed reports of 4,377 deaths and at least 9,000 remain missing.

Yet life in Japan is continuing. There is much to do, to repair, and even to celebrate. As my dear friend, sake master Yoshihito Asakura, told me the other night: “I’m lucky to be alive, but I still have to make a living.”

Update 3.23.2011
Interested in helping or volunteering? Peace Boat Japan is, as far as I can tell, the only charitable organization with boots on the ground now in the affected area, distributing necessities.

Patrick Tucker is senior editor of THE FUTURIST magazine and director of communications for the World Future Society.