It's a long time now since my first visit to Uluru, the stupendous sandstone formation in Australia's Red Center that European settlers called Ayers Rock, but which has now officially reverted to the name by which it was always known to the Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people. I had never before seen any natural formation as stunningly beautiful.

The hotel there was a sloppy old pub located a stone's throw from the massive, 348-meter-high landmark. At that time, anyone could just walk into a cave to view wall paintings that were thousands of years old. The night before I arrived, vandals had desecrated one of the cave murals with thick white paint.

Now bear with me if you will as I fast-forward to Tohoku, the region that last March suffered catastrophic destruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami it triggered. Subsequently, ongoing meltdown crises at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have led to radioactive contamination of life, landscape and livelihoods.