Karen Cole comments

It's part of the Japanese mentalitiy not to accept hand-outs (or hand-ups) but to be as self sufficient as possible. Money raised to be given to the families of the people who were (or still are) trapped in nuclear plants have many times been refused from the sheer mentality. So, as for the government maybe spending their money more wisely, no, their probably isn't a better option aside from work on the plants (which, again, it's not like they've had their thumbs up their butts for 7 months. The work is gradual and will take a while). This option is an investment that is likely to pay off quite highly.

IF this information is true - which I scoured JTA in both my 8-yr-old level of Japanese and in fluent English and I can't seem to find anything - then I say it is to the benefit of all travelers, explorers and students especially to go.

Yes, the yen is a good bit further off than we would like, BUT when you put in how much you'd think to pay for airfare and instead convert that to a hotel (men, you can stay in capsel hotels. I'm not sure if these are open to women yet) and into food (there are more starbucks ("sta-ba") and McDonalds (macudonarudo) per average block in Tokyo than in Portland, Oregon (one of the countries top 30 largest cities).

I'm looking for information. If anyone has any, send it off - that would be great.