It was August 2012 when Chikako Fujii had one of the most memorable conversations of her life. That moment came when a bill collector from Tokyo Electric Power Co. rang her doorbell in the west Tokyo suburb of Kunitachi and told her with finality that she had an important choice to make.

"Your payment is overdue this month. Unless you pay now, we will have no other option but to terminate our contract with you," the man threatened.

"Sure, go ahead," Fujii replied nonchalantly, much to his shock. The collector quickly dropped his hostile attitude and tried in vain to get her to reconsider.