Absolutely. I would even suspect intent to deceive, as is so common with anti-nuclear propaganda. People have not been harmed to an alarming extent by this event, as they certainly were with Chernobyl. The reactor is a completely different passive-safe design. In all probability long-term damage will be limited to some hard-to-attribute secondary effects (changes to the land use patterns in the region will confound statistical analysis), and of course, massive psychological devastation due to all the panic and misinformation. Sadly this is by far the greatest threat posed by modern nuclear power (or rather the cultural context in which it is placed).
If the Japanese government would legally allow me to live next to the reactor I would take them up on it tomorrow.