ABSTRACT
Today, this tsunami-induced nuclear disaster has kindled renewed interest in renewable energy development at the expense of nuclear power. On 31 March 2011, Prime Minister Kan Naoto expressed his intention to reconsider Japan’s Basic Energy Plan (Enerugi kihon keikaku or BEP) and start discussions over from a clean slate (Fackler and Pollack 2011). Twenty-two days later, the entrepreneur, Son Masayoshi-Japan’s richest man-presented his idea for an East Japan ‘Solar Belt’ in which billions of yen would be funneled away from nuclear power towards renewable energy. Speaking at a press conference on 10 May 2011, Kan acknowledged that the nuclear incident coupled with global warming led his cabinet to ‘work to ensure an enhanced level of safety for nuclear power, while at the same time more vigorously promoting natural and reusable energy’ (Press conference by Prime Minister Naoto Kan 2011). This idea not surprisingly morphed into the premier’s desire for a ‘nuclear-free society’ in Diet hearings held on 13 July 2011 (Demetriou 2011).
