Thriving city or ghost town? Crisis transforms Tokyo

TOKYO - Areas of Tokyo usually packed with office workers crammed into sushi restaurants and noodle shops were eerily quiet. Many schools were closed. Companies allowed workers to stay home. Long waits formed at airports.

As Japanese authorities struggled to avert disaster at an earthquake-battered nuclear complex 240 km to the north, parts of Tokyo resembled a ghost town.

Many stocked up on food and stayed indoors or simply left, transforming one of the world's biggest and most densely populated cities into a shell of its usual self.