Despite the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiishi
nuclear plant—officials are now considering burying the damaged
nuclear reactors—Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has vowed
that the country will rebound. " We will rebuild Japan from
scratch," he said in a nationally televised address, comparing
the work with the country's emergence as a global power from the
wreckage of World War II. “In our history, this small island
nation has made miraculous economic growth thanks to the efforts
of all Japanese citizens. That is how Japan was built.” The
earthquake has left more than 6,900 dead so far, exceeding the
1995 Kobe earthquake that killed 6,400. (Officials estimate that
more than 10,000 could be dead since 10,700 people are still
missing.) In addition, more than 452,000 people were made
homeless by the quake, about 343,000 households have lost
electricity, and about 1 million homes have no water. Chaos is
emerging as the main result of Japan’s continuing all-out drive
to end, or at least defuse, the n