Indeed, what began as a trickle developed into a mass exodus on Wednesday. Big companies rushed to get staff out of Tokyo after news of further nuclear problems, earth tremors and power cuts.

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Many foreign companies have moved staff to work out of hotels in Osaka, Kyoto or Fukuoka. Those big enough to have branches outside of Tokyo, such as AIG’s Japanese business, are moving staff there.

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The shinkansen bullet trains going west from Tokyo are packed. The bullet train to Kyoto and Osaka on Wednesday – usually only half-full – was packed with expatriate and Japanese wives and children. Nearly all the families leaving Tokyo are heading to hotels in Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and the far west, Fukuoka.

The big hotels have been flooded with reservation requests, increasingly from companies wanting to block book rooms for two to three weeks to accommodate employees and their families, as well as for banquet and conference rooms to use as impromptu offices.

At the Regency Hyatt, one of Kyoto’s top hotels, the queues for breakfast resembled the “National Azabu on a bad Saturday morning”, one guest said, referring to one of Tokyo’s most popular supermarkets with foreigners.

With all the big hotels in Osaka virtually full, many are headed to the nearby port city of Kobe and the 580-room ANA Crowne Plaza hotel.