*I know it's been a while since the nuclear accident. But I'm still struck by the dystopic, Gothic horror of these descriptions. Just compare these grievous scenes to the dynamic, world-bestriding Japan of the 1980s. Nippon's become a horror movie – the kind where you black-out in a "lost decade," and then forget that any other kind of decade was even possible for you.
*What would the American equivalent of that giant tsunami be? Maybe a giant Midwestern Dust Bowl that hangs around for 20 years. The difference of course being that American coal guys would never apologize for it, unlike these courtly Japanese nuclear guys.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121007x1.html
"OKUMA, Fukushima Pref. — Wearing a full-face mask and white protective suit, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Saturday..."
(...)
"Each of the eight men then briefly talked about their appalling experiences at the No. 1 complex, which saw three of its six reactors melt down following the Great East Japan Earthquake, leading to a massive release of radioactive materials into the environment.
"The (power generators) were knocked out by water from the tsunami. I thought it was all over," said one of the plant workers. "I thought, 'This is it; this is the end of it all..."
