Japan Marks March 11

It's been a long, long year. I really did not expect I would still be writing about the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster one year later.

I was supposed to be looking for a job, but reporting on the disaster, particularly the nuclear aspect, has become a full-time work, 7 days a week, every single week, week after week.

Thank you readers for your moral support and financial support and your comments. Please keep them coming.

Things have unfortunately turned out the way I had expected from the beginning. From the day one I knew it was core meltdown at Fukushima. I knew the Japanese government would hide it, downplay it, telling everyone things were under control. I knew the government would never tell the true extent of radiation contamination until months after, until it was too late for the people affected. I knew the government would appeal to emotions to spread radioactive vegetables, rice, meat, firewood, fish, mushrooms, compost, rice hay, building materials, disaster debris. I knew the media would simply go along with whatever the government told them.

But the Internet has proven to be a more powerful tool for ordinary citizens than I thought.

The only good thing I see that has come out of the nuclear disaster is that a small but increasing number of ordinary citizens in Japan are waking up from decades of stupor, getting connected via the net and starting to ask the right questions. They are trying to think for themselves, instead of letting TPTB decide the course for them. All the more power to them.

For the country that perished on March 11, 2011:

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