To go or not to go?

"What are we going to do if there's a blackout?"
"Let's make the best of a bad situation.  We'll put the baby out on the balcony until he's glowing, then if there's a blackout we'll put him in the centre of the living room and use him as a lamp."

That's when my wife started looking up flight times to Kagoshima on the net.  Was it something I said?

Seriously folks, still no need to panic.  Radiation levels are slightly down both in Fukushima and Tokyo.  That is, a health risk actually inside the plant, and completely safe outside the 30km exclusion zone.  There's some cause for cautious celebration as water trucks are being used to hose down reactors 3 and 4.  Now this is not news that a week ago anyone in the world would have thought would be cause for optimism but there you go.  Not only that, work is continuing on restoring electrical power to the plant, which would significantly improve the situation.  Even in the worst case scenario, with a total meltdown of one or more reactors, radiation would be local and serious levels would never reach down to Tokyo.  Even if the equivalent of Chernobyl were to occur, which is impossilbe, Tokyo would be okay.

So they tell me ha ha.

I understand in overseas media 50% of Japan has sunk underneath the sea and the other 50% is overrun by radioactive zombies.  That explains why expats are still fleeing in droves. 

As for the Japanese themselves, at the moment they seem to be more concerned with stocking up on tissues.