I accidentally ran across these newsletter reports that come from Pacific Forum CSIS. Now that the nuclear crisis has been elevated to a Level 7 rating, the pressure is all the greater on the Japanese to achieve an efficient, effective, and visionary recovery.
From CSIS newsletter, PacNet, #18, March 22, 2011. Facing a Complex Crisis: Thoughts on Japan’s Recovery, by Haruko Satoh. Excerpts:
Japanese public sentiment sways against nuclear power, the world would be losing one of most highly advanced producers of nuclear power plants. While development of alternative modes of electricity generation—such as solar and wind power—that do not rely on fossil fuel must be pursued, the nuclear option cannot be dropped as yet to meet the world’s growing demands for energy. In this context, the steps that Japan takes to recover from this will likely influence decision-makers, as well as people, around the world.
From PacNet #18A, March 25, 2011; Japan: Don’t Waste the Crisis, by Wm H. Overholt. Excerpt:
Nowithstanding heroic engineers, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the heart of the nuclear crisis, exemplifies the politically coddled corporations causing Japan’s malaise. No other nuclear company in the industrialized democracies has been allowed such a history of bungling, cover-ups, and systematic disregard of security recommendations. If TEPCO is understood as the archetype of Japan’s problems, the nuclear crisis can provoke a rebirth. A refocused Japan, with its superior education, superior technology, superior companies, and superior civility, can teach the world how to manage a graying but growing society. Japan can once again inspire.
Recovery Diva 
Terrific post! Japan cannot pretend that MOTHER NATURE was the sole cause of the problems being experienced. So not the question is what will the polity of Japan decide to do? Recovery IMO is too important to be left to the politicians just as war too important to be left to the generals.