When I got back from Japan last June, the most often asked question was "Is Osaka safe? Is there radiation?" (referring to the leaking nuclear power plant caused by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March. Airlines were busy offering discounts to their Japan flights or reducing their flights in response to dwindling passenger numbers on routes into Japan.)
As a comic book fan who idolises Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and certain members of the X-men, I wished I could explain enthusiastically how I have went through genetic mutation and obtained special powers after getting slapped by a wave of gamma rays while posing with the Glico neon poster along Shinsabashi.
However, on closer observation of the geographic distance between Osaka and Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant...
(Picture artefacts added by me. Picture courtesy of Google Maps, 10 July 2011.)
... which is about 500km, it seemed unlikely that radiation leaks from the plant will reach Osaka directly. The radiation rays would have to learn to defy physical laws and climb over mountains in order to do that.
Experts did warn that microscopic or macroscopic particles that are radioactive may still travel across long distances if the wind conditions are favourable. This prompted me to google for information about general wind directions and what I found was reassuring for me but perhaps pretty unsettling for people living in Los Angeles.
