Since the start of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis, debate has raged over whether the government should have Tokyo Electric Power Co. go bankrupt.
Even though the financial crises facing Tepco are far greater than those Japan Airlines Co. faced, one question that crops up is why the state won't let Tepco fail like JAL did in 2010, after which the government stepped in and restructured the carrier.
Observers say if Tepco goes bankrupt, the government would have to directly pay the trillions of yen it will cost to compensate disaster victims who had to evacuate their homes and abandon their livelihoods, to decontaminate the areas hit by radioactive fallout and to scrap the Fukushima plant.