MAKE a list of the world's most dangerous places and Japan, an unlikely candidate, will now have the misfortune of being selected as one.

The March 11 earthquake not only jolted the island nation's land, economy and society, it has also sparked a tectonic shift in how the outside world perceives the country, now in the news not for its high-tech gadgets, cars, raw fish delicacies or anime, but for its prolonged nuclear crisis triggered by the megaquake and ensuing tsunami.

So it didn't come as a surprise that before I left for Kyushu, West Japan, last week on a three-day press tour, many friends advised me to cancel the trip out of concern for my health. Their concern didn't evaporate until I came back safe and sound, whereupon I received numerous emotional calls expressing relief at the fact that I was apparently unharmed by radiation.

I deeply appreciate the good will, but their overall reaction seemed a bit jittery. It also led me to ponder the incongruity between the two very different images of Japan, one of a country verging on a Chernobyl-like meltdown as media stories seem to suggest; and one of a nation that is as safe, accommodating and resilient as ever, which I experienced firsthand during my stay there.

Although it's a hallmark of Japanese trait, I was still struck by the show of resilience during a visit to a gourmet fair held in Fukuoka City.

The fair was thronged with shoppers and vendors peddling local specialties from behind the stands. One stand drew a large crowd with its merchandise, mostly agricultural products. When I approached the stand for a better view, I almost gasped at the damning label tagged to it: Fukushima, the epicenter of the unfolding nuclear disaster!

Solidarity

I couldn't imagine how much nerve it took for folks to buy items possibly contaminated by the radioactive leak.

Later on I was told the mass purchase of Fukushima-grown produce was a manifesto of solidarity with peasants affected by the nuclear fallout, which drastically reduced demand for farm products.

While the tide of consumer support buoyed the fortunes of many of Japan's desperate farmers, a big question lingered: Don't the Japanese fear the consequences of their consumerist patriotism, namely, potential exposure to radiation?

I was asked a similar question, couched in straightforward terms, time and again by my Japanese hosts: Do you feel safe here after the nuclear apocalypse?

Kyushu is more than 1,000 kilometers from the stricken nuclear power plants and has a stable drinking water supply, so I have no worries whatsoever about my safety, was my usual reply. However, I doubt many shared these feelings.

Calm and composure were the reigning moods among the Japanese in the immediate wake of the calamity, but this was not the case with foreigners. As Japanese media have reported, many foreigners fled the country over safety concerns. Some are back by now but others have no plans to return.

According to a report published by the Japan Times on May 11, Japanese universities are grappling with a foreign exodus after the deadly deluge. The newspaper cited one Chinese liberal arts student at Waseda University as saying she is the only Chinese student staying behind.

Besides the brain drain, also hard hit is Japan's tourism. Susumu Ishihara, chairman of Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organization and concurrently president of Kyushu Railway Co, told reporters at a symposium on May 11 that the number of tourists to Kyushu in March has almost dropped by half year on year due to bad publicity following the nuclear accident.

Nevertheless, some of the temblor's aftershocks were more intensely felt beyond Japan's shore. For instance, China was caught up in a salt "famine" in March after people frenetically snapped up salt in the false belief that it could avert radiation risks.

Such preposterous turn of events was a result of pervasive misinformation that some media and experts unwittingly helped spread.

Damage control

Japanese media are trying to control the damage wrought both by the quake and by their hard-hitting coverage of the government's crisis management. To restore foreigners' confidence in Japan, the media should run more stories of heartening progress rather than focus on grim facts, said Youji Mori of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper at the May 11 symposium.

It may sound like a cliche that ours is an age when bad news travels fast, but that's precisely the predicament confronting Japan.

The death on Saturday of a worker inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facilities - caused by illness, not by radiation, as the post-mortem found - is enough to overshadow good news that Tokyo Electricity Power Co has agreed to compensate so-called "nuclear refugees" and that levels of radiation in Tokyo are little higher than those recorded in New York.

In my speech at the symposium I proposed that media publish more redeeming tidbits about Japan. If positive reporting of Japan as a safe place is not working, why not try playing up facts that indicate as such from a reverse angle?

My Japan sojourn included a journey to Mt. Sakurajima in Kagoshima and Mt. Aso in Kumamoto, two active volcanoes that spew ash on a daily basis. Major eruptions are rare, but fearsome rumbling is occasionally heard.

What many will consider an inhabitable place actually has a combined population of more than 105,000 and boasts a thriving agriculture, famous for the miscellaneous bounty of the land.

That life is possible on volcanoes has roots in Japanese philosophy, steeped in fatalism, a worldview that promotes resignation to nature's cruel vagaries. But it also has to do with geological science.

A curator at the Sakurajima Volcano Museum told me that frequent minor eruptions help unleash some power of seismic activity and thus prevent strong quakes. So Japan may be a lot safer than popularly thought.

Fear mongering

During my absence, Shanghai was hit by another sandstorm following the once-in-a-decade one early this month. The airborne heavy metals carried by the dust are no less fatal than any negligible amount of radiation that arrives here from Japan; on Sunday, police in Guangdong Province launched a crackdown on swill oil, which was revealed to be produced in stomach-churning sanitary conditions.

People who tend to think that Japan is in the murderous grip of a nuclear crisis should ask themselves if they are completely out of harm's way. If not, perhaps it's time to stop breathless fear mongering about the desolate country.