There are the measurable aspects of Tohoku's ongoing tragedy — so many becquerels or sieverts of radiation, so many million tons of rubble, so many trillion yen worth of damage and losses of various kinds, so many weeks, months, years or decades before cold shutdown, decontamination, reconstruction, resettlement and economic recovery are achieved.

Then there are the immeasurable aspects. Radiation in the air, soil, food, water and sea has psychological as well as physical effects. "Every day I think of radiation accumulating in my child's body," a 36-year-old Tokyo housewife tells the monthly magazine Takarajima. Most experts say Tokyo is safe — but most experts said nuclear power was safe. Do experts know? Can experts be trusted?

Many people no doubt suppress their fears and get on with their lives. This woman can't. She thinks Tokyo is contaminated and wants to move — for the child's sake more than her own. But it's not easy to simply pack up and leave on the strength of insubstantial, unsubstantiated anxieties. Her husband has a career and wouldn't consider moving. She'd take the child and set up a separate household in Osaka or somewhere else, if there was enough money. There isn't. So she stays, and her forebodings keep her awake nights.