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SALT LAKE CITY -- Thousands of people are now fleeing Japan amid concerns over nuclear radiation. That includes a Utah woman who's been rattled by recent aftershocks and other fears.
The United States is urging Americans within a 50-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to evacuate. Utahan Kami Ishikawa is leaving for different reasons.
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Workers try to cool Japan's overheated reactors
mergency workers seemed to try everything they could think of Thursday to douse Japan's most dangerously overheated nuclear reactors: helicopters, heavy-duty fire trucks, even water cannons normally used to quell rioters."I've been wavering for a couple of days and just got this strong feeling that ... I need to go," she said. "And I don't think it's because I'm in any severe danger, but we need to get some rest."
Ishikawa said she hasn't been able to get more than 30 to 45 minutes of sleep at a time since the earthquake.
"I need to be able to recuperate, get the energy back up to come back, because this is my life. I am coming back," she said.
She and her children have tickets back to the United States on Sunday; her husband will stay behind and continue to work in Tokyo.
Earlier Thursday, she went to find bread but wasn't able to. Lines for gas, she says, stretch five or six blocks. Yet, people remain calm.
Ishikawa is keeping in touch via e-mail and Facebook. "I have seen so much love and graciousness, offers of help. It really makes me speechless," she said.
She, like other travelers leaving Japan, will likely be checked for radiation as they disembark. Taiwan detected traces on 26 passengers Thursday.
Airline prices for a one-way ticket from Tokyo to Salt Lake start at just over $1,000, and there are quite a few in the $1,400 range. They go as high as $11,000.
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Story written by Sarah Dallof with contributions from Marc Giauque.
