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Physicist Ryugo Hayano of Tokyo University tweeted about foreign news reports of radioactive fallout after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown. His Twitter following soared to 150,000 from 3,000. (Tom Miyagawa Coulton, For The Times / December 17, 2011)[Physics professor Ryugo Hayano from Tokyo University currently has a twitter account with just under 140,000 followers, a dramatic increase from the 1,000 followers he had before the Fukushima meltdown. With the Japanese government's shaky handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and its late and compromised information released to the public, many Japanese have decided to take health matters into their own hands. This includes how they find information and news. Prof Hayano reassures his twitter followers with straight facts and improves obscure government reports on radiation levels by creating easy to understand graphs. (Tom Miyagawa Coulton for The Times)] *** []
For many older Japanese, the government remains a trusted, paternal overseer. But younger Japanese are now consulting the Internet and other information sources, rather than depending on major media.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
December 18, 2011
Reporting from Tokyo—
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-distrust-20111218,0,7635674.story