News reports immediately following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant accident of panicked foreign residents lining up for the first flight home — in many cases advised to flee by their own governments — had the initial result of helping to feed the sense of angst among Japanese that has pervaded much of the postquake reporting.
Subsequent TV news spots have aired interviews with farmers and small manufacturers who faced labor shortages after foreign "interns" and other workers bailed out. Two days before Tokyo Disneyland reopened on April 15, one sports tabloid went so far as to claim the key cause for delays in the theme park's reopening (it had been closed since March 12) was not the rolling power blackouts in Urayasu City but a lack of foreign entertainers to perform in the parade that serves as the day's most popular event.
Compared with the week before the March 11 disaster, the Immigration Bureau data confirmed departures by foreigners nearly doubled the week following the quake, from 139,782 to 244,274. Exits by those holding official or diplomatic passports, for example, were 192 and 1,320, respectively.
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