Japan Nuclear Nightmare: Tokyo Fears Radiation


Rescue crews in Japan are finally working their way to the areas hit hardest by Friday’s earthquake, and the number of dead keeps rising. The death toll now stands at 3,676, Japanese authorities said, with almost 8,000 still missing and 2,000 injured. The U.S. is pitching in, sending naval ships and workers, and even cutting troops' access to sites like ESPN and YouTube to free up internet bandwidth for Japan's rescue effort.
The Daily Beast's Lennox Samuels and Takashi Yokota report from Tokyo on the alarm over radiation in the city. Plus, full coverage of the Japan quake and tsunami.
Tokyo and other cities have watched the unfolding tragedy in Japan’s northeast with concern but a sense of distance, even insulation. Until now. A mood of foreboding and alarm began to creep across the nation Tuesday as authorities made it clear that all six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi are beset with serious ailments, ranging from partial meltdowns to radiation levels harmful to human health to rising pressure, that could combine for a nuclear disaster of unprecedented proportions.