Then, in March, Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake that triggered a tsunami and, ultimately, a nuclear disaster.
After the war, some bunkers left were kept on standby in case of another war or a nuclear disaster.
Yoshihiko Noda takes over a nation struggling to rebuild after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March triggered a nuclear disaster.
For nine days, all eyes were focused on Japan as traders and investors alike worried about the potential for a nuclear disaster.
Coming into Tuesday morning, the market seemed simple enough to understand as stocks were being pummeled globally on fears of a nuclear disaster in Japan.
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"A nuclear disaster which the promoters of nuclear power in Japan said wouldn't happen is in progress, " the Tokyo-based Citizens' Nuclear Information Center said in a statement on its website.
By mid-March, traders had become convinced that the combination of the geopolitical problems and supply interruptions (as well as the potential for a nuclear disaster) in Japan would cause the global economy to slow.
And speaking of the potential for a nuclear disaster, it is becoming clear that while the situation is tragic, the Dai-ichi plant is not Chernobyl and is not going to have a major economic impact.
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The husband-and-wife team of Leslie (director and writer) and Andrew (writer) Cockburn, veterans of many documentaries on arms policy and nuclear weapons, have finally made a movie about a nuclear disaster that actually happened their subject is the social ecology of the recent financial meltdown.
But just as we all agree on the need to prevent a nuclear disaster, we also agree on the benefits of nuclear technology and peaceful nuclear power, what it can do to bring the world -- if properly managed and protected -- to a better place.
Recent tragic events, which started as natural calamity and almost ended as a cataclysmic nuclear disaster, proved that Japan needs more conscientious and sustainable energy policy.
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Such a decision would be the first since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which has led to a nation-wide review of nuclear safety standards.
Dr. Yamada said the standard was based on countries such as Belarus and Ukraine that experienced the Chernobyl nuclear disaster a quarter century ago.
He warned there was a risk of a conflict on the Korean peninsula which would make the Chernobyl nuclear disaster "seem like a child's fairy tale".
Governments across the world have reviewed the future of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, with Germany already announcing a withdrawal from nuclear energy.
With virtually no conventional fossil fuels of its own and a nuclear industry crippled by the Fukushima disaster, Japan has been keen to develop new sources of energy, however speculative they may appear.
The first three months of 2011 were volatile for global stock markets as geopolitical unrest resulted in surging oil prices and a natural disaster led to a nuclear crisis in Japan, but initial public offerings were resilient, with U.S. deals helping North America lead the way in volume, proceeds and returns according to a report from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.
The nuclear disaster has come at a crucial time for the world, as most of the governments of the developed world weigh alternatives to traditional carbon-based fuels.
The future of nuclear as a power source for countries around the world was called into question after the Fukushima disaster in March, when a Japanese earthquake and tsunami damaged the nuclear reactors, leaving radioactivity leaking from the plant.
The Daily Mail science editor, Michael Hanlon, has already boldly claimed that "what has happened in Japan should in fact be seen as a massive endorsement of nuclear power", given the success of most Japanese plants at withstanding a disaster they were never designed for, but others will use exactly the same information to reach the directly opposite conclusion.
BBC: Japan nuclear threat: The tsunami is the bigger tragedy
In the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the world learned a lesson about how easily a global supply chain can be disrupted.
Japan has few natural resources and the cost of importing fuel has increased after a backlash against nuclear power following the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years ago.
"Although triggered by these cataclysmic events, the subsequent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant cannot be regarded as a natural disaster, " it said.
Although the name of the site has never officially been changed, the operators were clearly trying to put distance between the disaster and the nuclear plant as a whole.
With a potential disaster in Pakistan and the threat of a nuclear Iran, US attention seems to be going farther and farther eastward.
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Even before the new rules are completely in place, the NRC is considering a new regulation related to the Japan disaster: requiring nuclear operators to spend tens of millions of dollars to install filtered vents at two dozen reactors.
Meanwhile, a new independent report on the cause of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster places most of the blame on the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company for allowing the plant to be so vulnerable in the first place.
The resulting disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant led to a shut-down of the country's full nuclear power-generation capacity.
Chaotic disputes over the Greens' anti-nuclear, anti-business programme made this experiment a disaster.
After a long apology for the "inconvenience" caused by the nuclear disaster, Mr Takahashi explained just how long and difficult the clean up would be.
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