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The Fukushima accident sent radioactive materials into the ocean and atmosphere, contaminated the food and water supply, and forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features via guardian.co.uk
Almost two years after the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi power plant sent shockwaves around the world, Japan's government is attempting to resell the nuclear dream to a traumatised public.
Japan appeared to have ended its addiction to nuclear power when the previous centre-left government pledged last year to phase out all of the country's 50 working reactors by 2040.
The announcement marked a dramatic shift from pre-Fukushima plans to increase Japan's dependence on nuclear from 30% to 50% by 2030. For the emboldened anti-nuclear lobby, it heralded the start of an unprecedented shift towards renewable energy.
But the return to office last month of the conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP) under Shinzo Abe effectively killed off the idea of a non-nuclear Japan. It was no coincidence that within days of the LDP victory, Tepco, the firm that operates Fukushima Daiichi, saw a dramatic rise in its share price – but nowhere near the level it was before the accident.
The new government has announced a review of the nuclear phaseout, adding that reactors would be restarted if they passed safety tests, and it refused to rule out the construction of new ones.
Critics of the phaseout have pointed to the economic and environmental costs of Japan's dependence on expensive oil and gas imports since it took all but two of its nuclear reactors offline in the wake of the Fukushima accident.
Japan's trade minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, warned that the government would not allow its plans to revive the economy to be derailed by a commitment to going non-nuclear. "We need to reconsider the previous administration's policy that aimed to make zero nuclear power possible by the 2030s," he said.
It could take months – perhaps years – before a significant number of reactors are switched back on. And while anti-nuclear candidates performed abysmally in last month's general election, the public remains sceptical about industry promises to mend its ways after decades of collusion with regulators and pro-nuclear politicians.
But those concerns are unlikely to hold much sway with the LDP, which helped develop Japan's "nuclear village" – the web of power utilities, bureaucrats and MPs who peddled the nuclear dream and shunned rigorous regulation.
As Abe said soon after becoming prime minister: "A strong economy is the source of energy for Japan. Without regaining a strong economy, there is no future for Japan." If he gets his way, that future will include a role for nuclear power.
Fried whale meat at a restaurant in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Photo courtesy: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
Japan's failing appetite for whale meat left three-quarters of meat from whales caught in the north-west Pacific last summer unsold, according to a report.
Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist, said the body responsible for selling meat from Japan's controversial "scientific" whaling programme had failed to sell 908 tonnes of the 1,211-tonne catch, despite holding 13 public auctions since last October.
The report, published on the website of the Tokyo-based Dolphin and Whale Action Network, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body that oversees the hunts, had hoped to use sales from the meat to cover the costs of the whaling fleet's expeditions.
The failure of the auctions to pique consumer interest in meat from minke, Bryde's and sei whales has forced the institute to revert to private sales through Kyodo Senpaku, the for-profit firm that collects, processes and sells the meat on behalf of the institute.
Sakuma said the oversupply of whale meat, despite pockets of demand for the highest quality produce, had made Japan's lethal research programme unsustainable.
The Institute of Cetacean Research blamed low demand on the complicated auction procedure and reluctance among food suppliers to attract criticism from anti-whaling groups such as Sea Shepherd. I'm sure that even though he is in jail, Capt. Watson is rejoicing over this news.
"We could not achieve the results we had anticipated," an institute official told Kyodo.
Although the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, Japan is allowed to conduct so-called "scientific" hunts in the north-west Pacific and the Antarctic. The IWC stipulates the meat must be processed and sold on the open market.
But campaigns to revive the tradition of eating whale meat – which was largely confined to a few coastal towns – have failed to capture the public's imagination.
A 2006 survey by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat. Consumption of whale meat rose after the second world war as it provided a much-needed source of protein.
Sakuma's report will come as another blow to Japan's beleaguered whaling industry.
Campaigners claimed a major victory when the Antarctic whaling fleet returned to port in March with just 30% of its planned catch of more than 900 whales. The fisheries agency blamed the poor catch on bad weather and "sabotage" by Sea Shepherd.
Late last year, it was revealed the government used 2.28bn yen (£18.5m) from the 11 March earthquake recovery fund, on top of its existing $6m (£3.87m) annual subsidy, to pay for the most recent Antarctic hunt.
The justification the fisheries agency gave for this atrocious mishandling of earthquake disaster funds is that it was a perfectly acceptable use of the money because one of the towns destroyed by the tsunami was a whaling port.
Who do you think you're kidding, Japan?
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