2 years after Fukushima, Japan's nuclear lobby bounces back

The non vocal majority looses again.

Public opinion is only useful to the extent it supports existing policies like death penalty, otherwise it can be safely ignored.

Don't give up, people! If you can vote, make sure you do it. We can't LOSE this fight!

Of course the LDP is eager to get back to nuclear power, they are the party that set it up in the first place and looked the other way when corners were cut (remember the buckets used to transport highly radioactive material, anyone?) What surprised me is that the voters of Fukushima welcomed back this party with open arms...

Just looking at the results in the elections, not only the LDP's, but pro-nuclear right wingers in Ishihara's new party got more votes than anti-nuclear candidates, even in Fukushima Prefecture. Activism may be able to do something against the restarts, but when the population has handed the LDP such an overwhelming majority, the road ahead for the anti-nuclear movement is going to be a steep one.

It may be that Abe is setting himself up for a devastating loss or even a true revolution in the likes of the the French or Russian ones.

The problem is that if you rely on an argument that is rationally questionably, such as: "The disaster also destroyed a carefully cultivated myth that nuclear power was cheap and safe.", the farther you get from the emotional impact of the initial disaster, the less people are going to be willing to overlook the lack of reason in the argument.

Nobody wants to be the guy who targets a scapegoat. If the problem was not the dog, but the neglectful person who was in charge of the dog, nobody wants to be the one who claims that all dogs should be done away with.

@waltery

The non vocal majority looses again.

The public voted in the only party that openly said it wasn't anti-nuclear. What majority are you referring to?

@cabadje It's a good point you make. Personally, I don't class nuclear power as safe, which is why we need to be extremely vigilant when using it. The PM2.5 issue we are getting from a country hundreds of km's away is testament that other energy sources also need to be treated with respect.

Disfunctional on so many levels.

Because it's the lobby Japan deserves, but not the one it needs right now

The people have very short memories and politicians have adaptable memories.

"They own the corridors of power.” Professor Kingston is on the money, as it were, with this observation. The amount of funding nuclear plant owners pour into political coffers to support favourable politicians and into media companies, money that comes from our taxes and our electrical fees, is staggering.

The disaster also destroyed a carefully cultivated myth that nuclear power was cheap and safe - and mobilized Japan’s often apathetic voters in huge anti-nuclear demonstrations during a 2012 summer of discontent.

Only temporarily. The myth is back and the masses are buying it once again.

I dont Think Japan can not afford any more neuclear incidents , as it is Situated in a bad Geologic area , Susepectable to Earth Quakes and Tsunamys. It would be reasonable to operate reacters if it was positive the area was in a non reactive area. making it safe to do so. The price of failure would be castrofic on top of previous problems Japan already has.

Of course, the ideal solution would be to develop an efficient way to transmit electricity wirelessly. Then you could stick your energy generators wherever the heck you wanted and no one would give a damn, as long as it isn't in their backyard.

Oh, and please define "bounces back" from the headline. I hope they sink out of sight!

What if the wind had blown over Fukushima from a different direction? Even with how bad it is Japan needs to count itself lucky. The harm that could have been done is much worse. The nuclear industry in Japan has proven itself incapable, incompetent, and immoral in the safe operation of nuclear power plants.

What the people want and what they are given and what is given is not in the interests of the people cannot be called a democracy but despotism.....

@Nonubusiness

After 3/11 the wind did change direction and Tokyo got a liberal dosing along with Saitama,Chiba and areas in between.... There are many videos on YouTube showinger levels of radiation from soil samples

After 3/11 the wind did change direction and Tokyo got a liberal dosing along with Saitama,Chiba and areas in between.

Exactly which side of the argument is in denial? So the radioactive cloud did indeed pass over Tokyo and beyond, it did carry with it, caesium and other elements known to have emitted from Dai-ichi. Now the facts, even at the highest reading taking in Tokyo, the background levels were still LOWER than the regular levels in New York and Hong Kong. Yes there were pockets of higher levels, but these were generally in drains and water run offs, not where people generally live. Now, I'm positive that you know this already.

It is the title of the article that I am addressing. Major tragic accidents in the nuclear industry produce warped genetic mutations for generations not just problems for the current generation. Perhaps if these pictures were plastered on station walls there would be a major civil war in Japan tomorrow but the elite are clever enough to keep pressing home the 'non dangers' of nuclear power. We do not any any news portraying the chromosonal changes that occur as radiation destroys the cells on NHK but the insects 32kms out of Fukushima have growing out of their heads! Any negative information that would paint Japan as dangerous and in a negative light is censored. Comparing levels of radiation around the world is pointless To say that people are living in New York with a comparable level of radiation,more or less than Fukushima means JS to me. However to focus on the level of radiation in Tokyo,attention should be given to the samples collected in Tokyo by the nuclear engineer Arnie Gundrrson. He found that a level of radiation sufficient to classify the sample as 'hazardous waste' according to American law. The Americans know nuclear for a long time now and have no vested interest in the denial of that fact I wasn't sure that we all knew this-but I am positive we know this now.......