( AP ) - Relatives react as they reunite at each other at a shelter in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, three days after northeastern coastal towns were devastated by an earthquake and tsunami.
Even so, Japan, a country of paradoxes, seems to be handling its greatest crisis since World War II with decorum, fighting chaos with order. A ferryboat is sitting atop a house in the tsunami-ravaged town of Otsuchi, but at shelters nationwide, shoes are neatly removed at the entrance and the trash is sorted by recycling type.
There has been virtually no evidence of looting or rising crime levels, and the Japanese have shown stoicism while waiting in long lines.
Amateur video captures the force of the tsunami's arrival in Japan. The waves devastate entire blocks in Miyagi Prefecture, with some residents narrowly escaping, as captured by this photographer. (March 14)
Graphic: A wave of destruction
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/japan-earthquake.html
Also on display have been Japan’s unrelenting politeness and its love for group consensus. Twitter users told stories about the stranded and the homeless sharing rice balls. Travelers heading north reported 10-hour car rides — with no honking. At a convenience store in one battered coastal prefecture, a store manager used a private electric generator. When it stopped working and the cash register no longer opened, customers waiting in line returned their items to the shelves.
Even at Tokyo’s Kokubunji Station, with most train lines down, morning commuters waited hours just to board their trains. Lines reached out of the station, over crosswalks and along the streets for several hundred yards. Railway employees wearing suits and white masks directed commuters into lines — east going this way; west going that way.
But along hundreds of miles of coastline, there are biting concerns about safety.
The fuel rods in one of the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s reactors became partly exposed when water levels fell temporarily, raising the risk of overheating and meltdown.
Although government officials say that radiation levels around the plant are not dangerous, several thousand people have been tested for radiation exposure. On Monday, the U.S. 7th Fleet repositioned its ships — about 100 miles away from the nuclear plant — after 17 crew members were found to have trace amounts of radioactive material on their bodies and clothing.
U.S. Ambassador John V. Roos told reporters Monday that Nuclear Regulatory Commission experts are in Japan and have been consulting with their Japanese counterparts. “We are confident that the government of Japan is doing all it can to respond to this serious situation,” he said.
Yukio Sekiguchi, 64, lived in the shadows of two nuclear plants in Tomioka, located just a couple of miles off the Pacific Coast. He operated an izakaya — a popular after-work spot for drinks and food — about 500 yards from the coastline and about two miles from one of the plants. Although the tsunami damaged his home and his business, Sekiguchi knows that the power plants could be just as dangerous.
“We have mixed feelings,” he said. “I have a business and it’s supported by the people of the plant. . . . But the families with young children, that’s a main concern. You can’t visibly see the radiation.”
In the meantime, thinning amounts of basic supplies in the areas north of Tokyo have forced long lines that snake outside stores. Often the stores have empty shelves, with instant noodles and rice in high demand.
“We all know what the situation is, and we all feel each other’s pain,’’ said Hidenori Chonan, a supermarket manager in Fukushima, where several hundred people waited hours before the store was set to open.
Staff writer Rick Maese and correspondent Erin Cox contributed to this report.
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