It's been a scary weekend for me and my wife. She grew up in Japan and has many friends and family that live there, so we've been trying to track down everyone we know to make sure they're ok. So far everyone is okay (even the one friend who lives in Sendai) so that's a relief.
I think it's weird how the American media is making everything look like a wasteland, and while some places are (up north, near Miyagi and Sendai), it's not all that way. But at the same time, our friends and family in Japan are downplaying how bad it is/how much it's affecting their daily lives. I think the reality is somewhere in the middle, but either way, life won't be able to go back to normal for a good 8-10 months. And that's assuming the best for the situations with the nuclear reactors.