Osaka

By D. Parvaz in Asia on March 17th, 2011
A monolith of a reminder, the earthquake museum has the time, date and magnitude of the Hanshin quake stamped on it [D. Parvaz]

OSAKA - As an epic battle between man and his nuclear creation rages in Fukushima, in Osaka, where a light dust of snow speckled the sky on Thursday, the only trace of the sickening uncertainty experienced by communities in the north is the realisation that the city is filled with temporary refugees.

They've come here, not in droves, but in significant numbers, filling hotels and trains.

By D. Parvaz in Asia on March 16th, 2011
Photo by AFP

Tokyo is about as close to being a ghost town as it’s been since the subway sarin attack in 1995.

Traffic through the city is sparse, store shelves are light on the basics and expats are leaving in droves, with several countries - such as Germany and France - advising their nationals to leave.

The Japanese aren't leaving the country. They are, however, hedging their bets and moving as far as they can from the potential path of radioactive winds that might blow down from the exploding and burning nuclear plants in Fukushima.

The trains leaving Tokyo to Osaka and Kyoto are packed, mostly with families with small children and elderly members.

A train crew member on the way to Kyoto told me that trains heading to Tokyo are unusually empty, and the ones heading out are packed.

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