Two more explosions happened at the Fukushima nuclear plant. A meltdown alert has been issued. If things get worse (and there is a good chance that they will), a big part of the population on North-East Japan, and even the Tokyo region, should ideally be evacuated to avoid radiation. It is understandable that the Japanese government has so far denied the necessity to evacuate Tokyo, and will continue to downplay the importance of the nuclear incident to prevent a mass panic. Even if the risk of very harmful radiation is serious, how can a metropolis of 35 million people be reasonably evacuated ? Where would people be going, how would they be transported, where would they stay, for how long, and what would they do ? West Japan cannot become a huge refugee camp for the residents of East Japan. I am sure that the Japanese government is aware of this and prefers to forsake the safety of its people rather to plunging the whole country into chaos and destroying its economy.