2011 Japan - one month later - april 12

2. 10 THINGS TO EMULATE FROM JAPAN 1. THE CALMNot a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated. 2.THE DIGNITYDisciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. 3. THE ABILITYThe incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall. 4. THE GRACE People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something. 5. THE ORDERNo looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding. 6. THE SACRIFICEFifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid? 7. THE TENDERNESSRestaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak. 8. THE TRAININGThe old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that. 9. THE MEDIA They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage. 10.THE CONSCIENCEWhen the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly. JAPAN – 2011 april 12 Japanese authorities have raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant to the highest level, seven. The decision reflects the ongoing release of radiation, rather than a sudden deterioration. Level seven previously only applied to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, where 10 times as much radiation was emitted. Japan residents on raised nuclear threat level The Japanese people are trying not to show their nervousness despite the warning about the nuclear threat level and several aftershocks on the same day. Physically they are used to the jolts, but mentally they are stressed-out. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan invoked his country's recovery from World War II on Tuesday as he sought to turn the nation's attention to the arduous task of rebuilding. Yet the challenges awaiting Japan remained on full display the day he spoke: The country rated the crisis at a nuclear plant stricken after last month's earthquake and tsunami as the most severe on an international system for rating nuclear accidents. And a fresh round of earthquakes rumbled across an already battered landscape. One with a magnitude of 6.3 was the latest of 52 quakes with a magnitude of 6 or greater since a monster 9.0 quake rocked the country and spawned a tsunami, leaving nearly 28,0000 people dead or missing.

3. The gods may have punished us,' Japanese woman worries  Fukuko Hatakeyama, whose house was washed away in the tsunami, talks about her loss as she stands in debris in Miyagi prefecture on March 29. Kuni Takahashi

4. Fukushima Prefectural officers collect soil samples to check for radiation contamination at a rice paddy in Kunimimachi, northern Japan Thursday, March 31. Tsuyoshi Yoshioka / AP

5. Japanese tsunami victims wait in line for food, rice and toilet paper distributed by Japanese Self Defense Forces in Yamada city, Iwate prefecture, March 31. - Asahi Shimbun via EPA

6. Workers set up a solar power system for a temporary office building in the town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, March 31. Daisuke Uragami / AP

7. Elementary school children look for their belongings after school supplies were found near their school in Ishinomaki on March 31. Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images

8. Newly recruited employees of Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor bow their heads in prayer for the victims of the tsunami and earthquake during the company's entrance ceremony at Toyota's headquarters in Toyota city in Aichi prefecture on April 1. Toyota resumed production of its Prius and some Lexus hybrid models because it now expects to be able to procure parts and wants to prioritize models with higher demand. - Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images

9. Young evacuees play cards at a shelter in Ofunato on April 1. - Eugene Hoshiko / AP

10. Survivors wait for relief funds at the city hall in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai on April 1. The sign reads "This counter accepts monetary donations. Thank you for your warm cooperation." - Vincent Yu / AP

11. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel prepare to search for victims near the town of Ofunato on April 1. - Lee Jin-man / AP

12. U.S. Marines pray for the victims before starting to clear the rubble at the city of Kesennumaoshima on April 1. - Haruka Takahashi / Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

13. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan wipes his face during a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo on April 1. Kan said that an extra budget would be drafted to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Franck Robichon / EPA

14. Evacuees rest in "rooms" partitioned by cardboard walls at an evacuation center in the coastal town of Onagawa, Japan, on Friday, April 1. Onagawa is one of the hardest-hit areas in the region but the locals say they have been receiving very little help from the government. - Dai Kurokawa / EPA

15. Members of the Japan Coast Guard rescue a dog after it was found drifting on the roof of a house floating off Kesennuma, northeastern Japan, Friday, April 1. The dog wears a collar, but there is no address on it. - AP

16. Japan's Self-Defense Force's members continue a search operation near an elementary school where lots of the students have been missing since March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Ishinomaki, northern Japan Saturday, April 2. -AP

17. In this handout picture released by the Japanese Prime Minister's Official Residence and taken on April 2, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, center, points into the devastated area of the tsunami-ravaged town of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture in his first visit to the tsunami-hit region since the disaster over three weeks ago. - Japanese Prime Minister's Office via AFP - Getty Images

18. Port facilities sit damaged in Shinchi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, April 2. Kyodo News via AP

19. A boy, carried by his mother, extends his hand to touch cherry blossoms at Tokyo's Ueno Park on April 2. Cherry blossoms, symbols of the fleeting nature of life, are blooming in Tokyo but many of the usual boisterous parties will be cancelled as Japan tries to recover from the tsunami and nuclear disasters. Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images

20. An elderly woman waves to her grandchildren before departing during a mass evacuation in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture, on April 3. The port town where more than half the population are now homeless started evacuating 1,100 people to shelters elsewhere . Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images

21. A couple visit the site where coffins of victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami were buried in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, April 3. - Naoki Maeda / Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

22. A dog is screened for radiation contamination after being reunited with its owner in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, April 4. Tamura city lies partly within the zone around the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where officials have told residents to stay indoors. Kenji Shimizu / Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

23. Residents who lost their homes in the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami line up to fill out insurance forms in the town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture, on April 5. The tsunami-hit Japanese port town where more than half the population are now homeless started a mass evacuation of some 1,100 people to shelters elsewhere. - kazuhiro Nogi / AFP - Getty Images

24. Women sort fish at the Hirakata Fish Market in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki Prefecture on April 5 for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster. The health ministry said that iodine-131 at a level of 4,080 becquerels per kilogram had been detected in a small fish called konago, or sand lance, caught off Ibaraki prefecture, south of the plant. – Toru Yamanaka / AFP - Getty Images

25. Children play soccer in the tsunami-devastated coastal town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan on April 5. Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

26. Miyoko Tazaki, 79, searches with her children for their missing relatives in the tsunami-devastated coastal town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan on April 5.. The devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami have left over 11,800 people dead and 15,540 others unaccounted for in Japan, the National Police Agency. - Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

27. Scuba divers search for the bodies of missing people in water of Yoriiso fishing port in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture on April 5. Naoki Maeda / AP

28. An evacuee from March 11 earthquake and tsunami sleeps at a gymnasium, currently serving as an evacuation center, inside Ajinomoto stadium before a visit by Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako in Chofu, western Tokyo Wednesday, April 6. Yuriko Nakao / AP

29. Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako talk to evacuees from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at a gymnasium, currently serving as an evacuation center, inside Ajinomoto stadium in Chofu, western Tokyo on April 6. The royal couple visited the evacuation centre to show solidarity with evacuees almost a month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami ravaged the east coast of Japan claiming the lives of over 10,000 people. - Yuriko Nakao / AFP - Getty Images

30. A Japanese soldier distributes clothing during relief operations in the tsunami-devastated coastal town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan on April 6. Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

31. Tsunami survivor Miyoko Kimura, 84, touches the carved name of her late husband on the stone shrine of the family guardian deity that he dedicated as she visits her home town on April 6 for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture. yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images

32. Members of a Mexican relief team gather as they launch their search operation in the tsunami-ravaged city of Natori in Miyagi Prefecture on Wednesday, April 6. Kyodo News via AP

33. A girl walks with her mother after her first day of school at the Shimizu elementary school in Fukushima, northern Japan on April 6. Carlos Barria / Reuters

34. Children sit inside a classroom on their first day of school at Shimizu elementary school in Fukushima, northern Japan April 6. Over 70 schools began their regular classes on Wednesday in the city of Fukushima, after the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11. Carlos Barria / Reuters

35. Carlos Barria / Reuters - Children attend a ceremony on their first day of school at Shimizu elementary school in Fukushima, northern Japan on April 6. Over 70 schools began their regular classes on Wednesday in the city of Fukushima, after the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11.

36. A boy who survived the tsunami plays in a toy car in front of a real car still balancing on its front end in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, on April 6. With the toll topping 10,000 confirmed dead the March 11 quake has become Japan's deadliest natural disaster since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed more than 142,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes and have taken shelter in emergency facilities. Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images

37. Buddhist monk Sokan Obara, 28, from Morioka, Iwate prefecture, prays for the victims in an area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, April 7. Lee Jin-man / AP

38. Sokan Obara, a Buddhist monk, prays for the victims in the debris in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, on April 7. (Lee Jin-man/Associated Press

39. Workers climb poles to fix power lines in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture, April 6. Toru Hanai / Reuters

40. Students carry chairs on April 7 from the Hirota Elementary School which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. Tsuyoshi Matsumoto / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

41. Cats rescued from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami look out from their cages at Abe Pet Clinic in Ishinomaki, on April 7. The pet clinic became the main headquarters for treating and sheltering animals in Ishinomaki since the disaster struck the country last month. Carlos Barria / Reuters

42. A man surveys two dead horses within the exclusion zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant on April 7 in Minami Soma. Athit Perawongmetha / Getty Images

43. Dogs wander around the town of Minami Soma, April 7 - . Hiro Komae / AP

44. Japanese police, wearing suits to protect them from radiation, search for victims in Minami Soma, within the deserted evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors, on April 7 in Fukushima prefecture. - David Guttenfelder / AP

45. A man rides a motorcycle through water in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, April 8. Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images

46. This aerial photo shows oil leaking from the Onagawa nuclear power station in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, on Friday, April 8, following a strong aftershock on Thursday. Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA

47. Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko wave as they arrive at an evacuation center in Kazo, Saitama prefecture, on April 8. The imperial couple visited the shelter to encourage some 1,400 evacuees, mostly from Fukushima prefecture where the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is located. Tsuyoshi Yoshioka / Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

48. Kunio Shiga listens to a battery-powered radio in the living room of his home in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, inside the deserted evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex on April 8. The 75-year-old man was stranded alone in his farmhouse ever since Japan's monstrous tsunami struck nearly a month ago. - Hiro Komae / AP AP reports: The farmhouse sits about 500 yards down a mud-caked one-lane road strewn with felled trees, the carcasses of pigs and debris from the March 11 tsunami. Sitting alone inside the cold, darkened home is 75-year-old Kunio Shiga. He cannot walk very far, his wife is missing and he is scared and disoriented. "You are the first people I have spoken to" since the tsunami, he tells the AP.

49. Japanese police officers wearing white suits to protect them from radiation stand by a victim in a tarp as others carry another body in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, April 8. Hundreds of Japanese police and soldiers have begun a major search operation inside the deserted evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors. - Hiro Komae / AP

50. People line up for food and life supplies in front of a supermarket in Oshu, Iwate prefecture, April 8. A major aftershock rocked northeast Japan on Thursday and stores that had been newly restocked began rationing purchases again Toru Hanai / Reuters