Japan's triple calamity of a huge earthquake, tsunami and a nuclear crisis has prompted an outpouring of sympathy, but that could turn to frustration if Tokyo fails to get the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years under control in coming months. With the global spotlight intensifying as the crisis drags on, experts say Japan must be both open with information and competent in crisis management or face damage to its global image, a risk for an economy highly dependent on exports. Some neighbors have already faulted Japan on both counts. South Korea's prime minister this week accused Japan of “incompetence” and other officials voiced resentment that Tokyo had informed Washington of its plans to release radioactive water into the Pacific last week but did not tell Seoul. In a brief panic after overheated domestic media reports, some South Korean schools closed or cancelled outdoor events. The country joined others in banning imports of food from the region around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Food exports make up just one percent of Japan's exports, so the impact is largely symbolic. “Japan is well known for its efficiency and effectiveness, but through this issue, we have lost our trust in Japan and their system,” said Hahm Sung Deuk of Korea University. “Many Koreans are really afraid, but we don't have much information on the issue,” he said. China, which shares with South Korea bitter feelings about early 20th century invasion and occupation by Imperial Japan, imposed slightly broader bans on imports of Japanese food and also called for more information. But China has been measured in its comments. The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection said the “long-term consequences of the Fukushima accident cannot be ignored”, but played down the dangers, even after Japan raised Fukushima to the same category as the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown. “Its impact on our country's environment has been small, equivalent to about one percent of the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear accident on our country,” said the ministry. “There is no need to adopt protective measures.” China will remain sympathetic as well as concerned unless Japan mishandles the situation, said Sun Cheng, an expert on Sino-Japanese relations at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. “Trust deficit” But if China sustains damage from the radiation, anger will grow “especially if Japan behaves in an irresponsible way and doesn't heed the safety of neighboring countries in order to solve its domestic problems”, he said. Further abroad, in the United States and Europe, “there is a huge well-spring of sympathy”, said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies, Temple University, Japan Campus. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Japan on Sunday to reiterate that the United States, whose military has played a highly visible role in disaster relief, will do whatever it can to help. “But if this does persist and is not resolved by, say, the end of June, I think sympathy will erode and there will be a lot of public anger around the world directed at Japan,” Kingston said. “In terms of Japan's image around the world, that could suffer a setback.” Japan has acknowledged delays and inadequate communication in its early handling of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, triggered by the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami that left 28,000 people dead or missing. Prime Minister Naoto Kan, however, has insisted that he has not withheld any “inconvenient” information from the public. “I would like to assure you that whatever information Japan possessed has been shared with the entire community of the world and Japan without delay,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, the government pointman for the crisis. Michael Zielenziger, a visiting Japan scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, said Japan labors against a “trust deficit in Asia” from unfinished World War Two issues. “When anything involving radiation – which is scary because it's invisible and possibly fatal - takes place, trust is a precious commodity, and the Japanese don't have a trust bank to draw from,” he said. This deficit is most acute in South Korea, where sympathy after the tsunami turned to anger when a Japanese education panel authorized the publication of school textbooks that assert Japan's claim to disputed islets controlled by South Korea. Still, led by China, which has 27 nuclear power plants under construction, Asia's fast-growing economies have big nuclear power ambitions. They can't risk sowing panic over Japan's problems even as they review nuclear safety at home. “Many must be asking ‘If this can happen to technologically advanced Japan, what about the nuclear reactors of China, of Indonesia, of Vietnam - or even of Korea, which is proud of its technological prowess?'” said Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Hawaii.
