As I wrote in my blog over two years ago Japanese authorities were sugar coating the reality about the Fukushima disaster. Now BBC is reporting that Fukushima is "much worse than we were led to believe."
The problem is cultural. Ask a Japanese for something and he won't say "no", it's considered rude, he will say "it is difficult." All Japanese knows it means "no" but westerners don't.
So when the Japanese authorities in 2011 stated that something did not go according to plan, it's code for "everything is going south."
It brings into question how this disaster will affect the rest of the world, radiation spreads and is increased in the food chain causing long lasting hazardous effects. (Updated Sep. 05, 2013) South Korean regulators have banned the import of 50 fishery products from eight Japanese prefectures because of lingering concerns of radiation contamination from the crippled Fukushima power plant.
