Japan Stoic in Face of Ongoing Threat

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The Shinkansen looks like a glowing, wingless dragon on rails as it pulls away from platform 25 in the Osaka train station on this early morning just after sunrise. Train attendants in starched uniforms and white gloves offer the bullet train passengers refreshments.

But the train is far from full. It is headed north -- to Tokyo.

The previous day, the Japanese capital was shaken by yet more aftershocks. Reports of drinking water contaminated with radiation -- to the point that tap water can no longer be used to prepare infant formula -- also unsettled the population. More than two weeks after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami struck the northeastern coast of the island of Honshu, more than 27,000 people have been reported dead or missing. The crippled reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant continue to spew steam and smoke.