Japanese Fears of Radiation Leak Mounting, From the Forbes Blog of Neil Weinberg (An executive editor at Forbes), March 14, 2011 at 11:23 pm EST:

This post was written by Yas Idei, a freelance journalist living in Tokyo and longtime friend of mine. …

Excerpt from Idei’s post:

At 10 a.m., my photographer friend Hitoshi Katanoda called from a place some 25 kilometers away from the plant.

“There’s a line of cars is stretching more than two kilometers in front of a gas station,” he said. “The worse news is the station is not open. Gasoline is sold out. There’s no way out of here for the local people.”

“I visited an evacuation camp this morning,” he went on. “Young mothers are trying to protect their infants from radiation by covering them with plastic bags. There are no rescuers here. They may be focusing on Sendai and other areas. People in Fukushima have no choice but to stay here, no matter how dangerous it is. It’s a desperate situation.”

This morning, wind is blowing from the north. At the Tokai nuclear power plant, some 100 kilometers south of the Fukushima plant, a high level of radiation was observed. …

Idei adds:

A lot of people here are Tweeting  about fears that radiation leaks are already affecting Tokyo. Many schools in the metro area are closed today because of possible power cuts, but my daughter’s elementary school is open.

Read the post here. There was another posting by Weinberg just minutes before:

In Japan Reports Of Meltdown, Fukushima Evacuation, March 14 2011 at 10:52 pm EST

Excerpt

Here is a description of the scene around Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. It was reported by phone by Hitoshi Katanoda, a photographer on the scene, who minutes ago called Forbes contributor Yas Idei in Tokyo. Here is Idei’s description of the conversation:

“Hitoshi of Polaris who is near the plant just called me. It is a panic there. No way to escape as gas station are closed and rescuers are all gone.” …

Read the post here.