Information

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Information related to the the Fukushima Nuclear crisis falls under this category. The amount of conflicting information I have seen is dumbfounding. Surfing the internet for five minutes can take me from a full state of panic - that Armageddon and nuclear winter are fast approaching, to a relative calm - that under the worst case scenario things will be ok. The US is famous for its attention grabbing, sensationalized headlines, while the Japanese are being accused of sugar-coating the situation in an attempt to prevent panic. I have no idea what to believe, other than that the "truth" is probably a shade of grey somewhere between the two.

I am definitely noticing an increasing agitation, both among my Japanese co-workers and other foreigners and JETs, at the inability to obtain good information related to what is going on in Fukushima and the surrounding areas. You would think that all of the 24/7 news coverage and instant updates online would be a good thing, but indeed the opposite is proving true. So far trying to reasonably decipher anything from this ocean of "information" has been nothing but an exercise in futility. Hoping this changes soon.