NHK television transmitted aerial images of columns of flame rising from an oil refinery and flood waters engulfing Sendai airport, where survivors clustered on the roof of the airport building.

Inadvertently, he also lets flame retardants, bunker oil and heavy metals seep into the mighty ocean, and often invasive species too.

A cast iron sizzle plate none-too-subtlely shaped like a cow has a heavy slug of oil applied to it before being placed on a ferocious gas flame.