How did the Japan Earthquake change the world?

The so-called "nuclear crisis" was political and media-fed in nature only. Not one person has been harmed by radiation nor is anyone expected to be harmed by it in the future. It's not likely to stop nuclear power development in the long term because nuclear power is the safest, cleanest, and cheapest energy source we have. http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/08/17/tcase14/ If anything, the situation shows how safe nuclear power is. Consider that forty year old plants were hit with an earthquake five times the strength they were designed for and yet they still shut down safely. The generators came on like they were supposed to when grid power was cut. Then the tsunami hit and the generators were wiped out. However, the battery backup still worked for the designed eight hours. The problem happened when no new generators could be put in. Even so the problems have been minimal--media scare mongering for ratings not withstanding. Here is an informative article describing the situation: http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/ And here is where you find factual status information: http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011/fukushimafull.html And a slide presentation that describes the effects: http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/radiological-monitoring-and-consequences-of-fukushima-nuclear-accident-2-june-2011 And here is a chart that helps make sense of the numbers: http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/

The long lasting effects are that many countries have decided to reduce - or completely eliminate - their nuclear power programs. You'll have to do some searching to find out which countries.