Despite some optimism that Japan would bounce back quickly, there are now signs the recovery will take longer and the impact on the economy will be greater than expected.

All those confident forecasts and comparisons with the March 11 quake and tsunami with the 1995 quake in Kobe are starting to look a bit thin.

A 6.1 magnitude quake yesterday saw a brief tsunami alert off the northeast coast of Japan, further adding to fears.

The daily battle to control the problem goes on, two weeks after it worsened, and on balance you'd be optimistic to say that the situation has improved. That it hasn't worsened into a full scale crisis with reactor cores melting down is a small mercy.

At the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, high radioactive density detected in 3 turbine buildings may further delay work to restore the cooling systems for the overheated fuel rods.

And