Japan has been accused of betraying its own people by giving the American military information about the spread of radiation from Fukushima more than a week before it told the Japanese public.

The mayor of a Japanese community abandoned because of its proximity to the Fukushima nuclear plant has told the government’s actions are akin to murder.

An official from Japan’s science ministry, which was in charge of mapping the spread of radiation, has acknowledged to ABC Australia that perhaps the public should have been told about the dangers at the same time the US military was informed.

In the hours after the meltdowns at Fukushima, unseen plumes of radiation began to roll over the Japanese landscape.

Just a few kilometres from the oozing remains of the nuclear plant the people of Namie village gathered to evacuate.

With no information coming from Tokyo, mayor Tamotsu Baba decided to lead the people of his community further north away from the plant.