The author reported on the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and from on Fukushima in 2011. The silver lining of Chernobyl was that it really did ignite the process of glasnost. Unfortunately, though much needed, that is unlikely to happen in Japan because of the grip of the "nuclear village" on Japanese politics. The pressure group has seen off challenges from clean energy alternatives and has deep tentacles in the postwar Japanese state