Japan’s leader felt fearful and helpless during last year’s nuclear disaster and lacked experts capable of giving him guidance, he testified on Monday in his first response to a public investigative inquiry on the crisis. “I was frightened and felt helpless,” said Naoto Kan, who resigned in September after being criticized for government failures during the disaster. He told the parliamentary panel he felt afraid when nuclear officials kept failing to explain conditions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where three reactors melted down following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.—AP