Certainly what is happening in Japan is affecting gold prices. The wind really may be out of the sails for gold for the next little while ... but we'll see.

---

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110315-708715.html

"Investors shed gold in favor of cash Tuesday"

"We saw not only selling of equities, but also panic-selling of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in Japan today"

---

On BNN just now, the host mentioned that a number of experts are expecting Japan to sell off much of its gold holdings (he said Japan had about 750 tonnes of gold) to finance the reconstruction.

---

Off topic, but if you're read this far you may find this old 'gold in Japan sewers' story from 2009 of interest:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/4429197/Japans-sewers-paved-with-gold.html