If there's one thing that Americans learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, it's that giving some guy in California $50,000 for a one person space in his nuclear fallout shelter is a good idea. Robert Vicino is CEO and founder of "underground shelter network" Vivos and he's making a lot of money off of stupid concerned people, according to Asahi Shimbun:

We have about a 1,000 percent increase in immediate applications for memberships and accommodations in Vivos after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan," Vicino said.

"People are afraid of earth-changing events. The central concern of our inquiries and potential customers is that we are seeing more intense and frequent Earth changes that may lead to more of what occurred in Japan," Vicino said, adding that talk about an approaching comet may also have prompted people to seek safe shelters.

Yeah, I've seen that movie too. Save yourself the money and dig a hole in your backyard — the outcome will probably be the same.

[via Fark; image via Getty/Hulton Archive]