Maki, like other people I spoke to, doubted the accuracy of information broadcast on TV, suspecting that the government isn't telling her everything about the nuclear threat. "I feel like I don't know enough about Fukishima. We want more information. They have to be more clear, they're so changeable every time they present information," she said. "I think the government has made some changes to the information before telling us."

Kohei Onishi, 21, a political science student from Tokyo, watched new coverage on a big-screen TV screen playing at Ueno station. He said he took the government's word at face value. "I think the government is reporting the situation as well as they can," he said. "So I trust the government."

Even so, he's following more than just press conferences and official information. "I rely on Twitter. Twitter is now a very good information source," he said, pulling out his mobile to show me the steady stream of tweets. It's rare to see anyone on the street in Tokyo who is not staring into the small screen of a phone, seeking news, then sending it around like a commodity in high demand, low supply.

Kohei, like Maki, worried about another earthquake's impact on an already faltering city. "Trains will stop, and it will be harder to bring food and water to victims north in Miyagi," he said.

He claimed he'd already seen shortages of bottled water in stores, though I personally found store shelves to be plentiful. He warned, "we should buy water as soon as possible".

The foreigners I spoke to were unanimously worried -- far more so than the natives -- and making plans to get out, A 46-year-old Australian medical technician from Melbourne named Pauline Clarkson, traveling with her 18-year-old daughter Madison, had moved up their flight out of the country.

"The news here has been denying, denying, denying," she said. "Locals, they've been really calm but I don't think they know what's going on. Seriously. There's been absolutely no reaction at all out in the street," she said, pointing around her to the busy stalls under the trainline.

The locals' curiously calm behavior at Ueno and elsewhere in Tokyo has given foreigners like Clarkson the understandable, but ultimately wrong, impression that Japanese people are cold, even indifferent. There are all the expected moments of laughter, nervousness, and helpfulness. But whether or not there's any truth to the stereotype of Tokyoites as civilized, techno-centrist stoics, it's a useful shield for getting through the day.

"I don't think the Japanese are letting on the extent of the damage. We're getting better reports from you journalists back home," Clarkson said. "My main concern is a meltdown, an explosion, and you just don't want to be here, you know? Even though we're at a distance away, they're saying a breeze can bring it across Tokyo, and for my kids' sake I feel like it's time to go home".