Tokyo’s governor election becoming a referendum to end nuclear power in Japan

Opposition to atomic power is growing stronger throughout Japan despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to restart the country’s 48 remaining reactors shuttered for post-Fukushima safety re-evaluations. In fact, the nuclear power issue is now the major campaign issue in the February 9^th election for the nation’s capitol high office of Governor of Tokyo.  Metropolitan Tokyo and its 13 million people consume more than 10% of the nation’s total electric power supply and represent the fourth largest stockholder in Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.  TEPCO’s largest stockholder---at 50.1%---is now the Japanese government’s Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, which aims to restart nuclear reactors.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has announced that he is running as an independent candidate for the Governor’s office principally on the “zero nuclear power” platform; no restart of reactors shutdown after Fukushima and no new reactors.  Hosokawa has the support of the charismatic and influential former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Their union has forged a powerful political alliance to solidify a new national energy policy around an anti-nuclear position. Koizumi succinctly summed up the Tokyo election as “a battle between the group that says Japan’s growth is possible without nuclear power generation and the other group that says Japan cannot grow without nuclear energy.”

Similarly, a former health minister Yoichi Masuzoe and Kenji Utsunomiya, former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, are running on the “zero nuclear power” position but more broadly pledging to also tackle other Tokyo issues including social security and employment.

Public opposition to nuclear power and its translation into a rising political power has prompted the Abe government to delay a formal announcement of its national energy policy which is known to support the restart of the nation’s nuclear reactors, build more reactors and increase the export of Japanese nuclear technology. Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi was quoted to say “We are hoping to proceed as soon as possible, but we have received about 19,000 public comments,” adding “We shouldn’t decide on it too hastily.”

We hear from our colleague Aileen Mioko-Smith with Green Action Japan who points out “The Abe government and electric utility efforts to restart nuclear power in Japan is happening fast and heavy. We need all the help we can get!”  She adds, “Five utilities have submitted a total of 14 nuclear power plant restart applications to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), and the NRA is reviewing these applications with the aim of restarting nuclear power. How to prevent this restart is the key issue. This is the moment for effective NGO action. If we are successful, Japan can end nuclear power and serve as a role model for the world.” The merger of the anti-nuclear movement, public outrage and influential political coalitions is now making that role model a reality.