Particularly as we don’t live in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear plants, we’re confident that we’re as safe here as always – which is to say, extremely safe, the kind of safe that makes us comfortable sending our fourth-grader on a long train and bus commute to school, a fairly common routine here even for much younger children. Aftershocks, power outages, panic food-buying, long gasoline lines – this too will pass, and it’s hard to pity ourselves much given the misery that people along Japan’s northeast coast have endured since March 11.

If there is anything to worry about, it is that the perception of Japan as an unsafe country will inflict all kinds of economic and psychological damage. That would compound the tragedy it is enduring, hamper its ability to recover and elevate the challenges it faces just when it is most in need of support.

The Japanese have, for example, woken up in recent years to the need to promote their nation as a tourist destination – but how many millions will forego visiting Kyoto’s exquisite temples for fear of radiation exposure? Japan’s premium-quality rice, fruit and other foods have begun selling well in the nouveau riche markets of Asia, offering hope that the nation’s notoriously cosseted agriculture might become more open and modern. Will those export markets dry up if Japanese food acquires a nuclear taint? The number of Japanese who study and work abroad must increase so the nation can cope with globalization more effectively – but will this happen if they anticipate being treated as some sort of freaky gamma-ray-emitters? As my former colleague Rob Stein reported Monday, people from areas near past nuclear accidents have been stigmatized and shunned, making them all the more prone to stress-related illness.