There was a flurry of news articles last winter stating that even amidst the fallout the Japanese government was cooperating with the nuclear industry to increase exports of nuclear technology to other countries. To me, it makes complete sense that they would emphasize the expressly "Japanese" aspects of the disaster, whether it be the propensity for earthquakes/tsunamis as compared to other regions, or amakudari and other social structures that led to compromised safety standards and bad decision making. That way, even if the industry at home is ultimately destroyed, it does little damage to the lucrative market abroad being cultivated to take its place. Looking at Uniqlo, Rakuten, etc, it seems that many Japanese companies are beginning to give a greater importance to markets abroad than home...

I do question whether Japan's closer neighbors/targets (Korea, China, Russia, Vietnam), would rely on the English documents over the Japanese, but my guess is that this sort of cultural spin was certainly targeted for the European and South American markets.

Damon Robinson
Washington University in St. Louis c/o '11