Yesterday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off the automatic shut-down systems in ten of Japan's 55 nuclear power plants, from which the country gets a third of its electricity.

When it was founded in 1926, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (as it was then known) manufactured automatic fabric looms that could detect problems and shut down automatically.

Residents are forbidden to use water to wash down paths and pavements, or to use a hose without an automatic shut-off valve.