Not all Temple in Tokyo faculty will flee Japan

More than 200 students, faculty and family members are preparing to evacuate Temple University's Tokyo campus on Saturday, joining thousands who are fleeing Japan amid fears of a nuclear disaster.

Not Jeff Kingston. He's staying.

At least for now.

The Temple history professor has the gas tank in his car three-quarters full. He's keeping his garage door open so his vehicle won't be trapped if the electricity fails. And he's stocked extra food.

"If there are releases of radiation, mostly the wind is blowing out toward the Pacific, where it will disperse - fingers crossed," he said in a phone interview from Japan.

Kingston, director of the Asian studies program, has good reasons to remain: His wife is Japanese, and her parents are in their 80s. He has lived in Japan since 1987 and developed strong friendships. His neighbors seem to appreciate the fact that, despite the U.S. government's stern take on the disaster, he's standing with them.

"My American family thinks I'm nuts to stay," Kingston said. "Everyone makes their own call. I'm sure if I had small kids, I'd be out of here."

If he does leave Tokyo, he said, it might be to a prefecture in the mountains.

Others are going all the way - out of the country to nearby Asian lands, and to communities back in the U.S. As Temple officials solidified evacuation plans on Friday, some American students who fled on their own began arriving home.

The evacuation is scheduled to begin 11 p.m. Saturday, Japan time, when students, staff and family members board buses bound for Narita International Airport. The next morning, they'll step aboard a charter flight for an 1,800-mile journey to Hong Kong, university officials said.

The destinations from there depend on the traveler.

About 200 students are expected to leave. Another 115 students already departed Japan on their own, and 15 to 20 have left Tokyo for other places in the country.

In Philadelphia, Temple spokesperson Hillel Hoffman described the planning as organized, with administrators maintaining a "single-minded focus on the safety of the students."

The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi generator, damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has prompted American colleges and universities to urge or order students out of Japan.

By the time Temple officials announced evacuation plans on Thursday, law student Justin Gordon was already gone.

"When the reactor exploded, it was a warning signal in my mind to get out," said Gordon, 24, who arrived in California this week. "The most nerve-wracking part was we didn't have any information. Scientists were saying, 'It's going to be terrible,' or, 'It's not that bad.'"

When an explosion occurred at the nuclear plant the day after the earthquake, he quickly packed a few days worth of clothes, a computer and a camera, then headed to the train station with a friend.

They met two others who were leaving the city. Their conversation: Were they overreacting? Their answer: No.

Gordon traveled about 300 miles south, to the city of Osaka. Two days later, he caught a flight out of Japan, making his way to his parents' home in Santa Monica. His belongings are still at his Toyko apartment, which he shared with two roommates.

One has left for Bangkok, and is planning to travel from the Thai capital to Philadelphia, Gordon said. Another intends to leave before the campus evacuation, he added.

Initially, the Temple flight was limited to Americans. Now, non-Japanese residents of other countries will be included, officials said. If demand arises, Temple will arrange transportation for its Japanese students who want to leave Tokyo and head south, away from the stricken plant on the northern island of Honshu.

The Tokyo campus is about 160 miles from the generator.

The evacuation is not mandatory. Temple Dean Bruce Stronach is among those who elected to stay behind.

Thousands of people are trying to leave the country, driven by concerns about radiation.Governments in France, Britain and Germany arranged charter flights for their citizens wishing to leave the country, and the U.S. State Department has strongly urged citizens to consider going.

Luis Beltr Gaig, a Temple student from Spain, said in an email from Japan that he had heard nothing from his government about evacuation - but was preparing to leave on his own.

"I bought tickets for my Japanese girlfriend too," he said.

In Kingston's neighborhood west of Tokyo, people are continuing their daily routines. The women who sweep the streets are at work each morning, parents drop off children at school, and couples are moving into the apartment complex around the corner.

"It's bizarre to see so much normalcy, given how much might suddenly go wrong," Kingston said. "Maybe people are a bit too optimistic, or foolish, or resigned, but it's amazing. People are going about their lives as if it's not a major threat."

Foreigners may be clogging airports but, "You don't see that many Japanese heading for the exits," he said.

"On TV, everyone is watching a constant news stream of villages that have just evaporated. And everyone looks at those and can't help but wonder, 'What might happen to us?' Because every place in Japan is seismically active and vulnerable. There's that problem. And we're living under the cloud of a potential nuclear nightmare."

Kingston authored the 2010 book, Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s, in which he explored the country's nuclear program - 55 reactors producing about one-third of the nation's electricity. He's closely followed the efforts to cool spent fuel rods and restore electric power to pumps at the quake-riven plant.

"It seems that they're doing what they can, given how dire the situation is." The problem is that so many pipes and containment vessels are ruptured or cracked. "It's like pouring water into a broken bowl."