Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's continued push to sell nuclear technology abroad and restart nuclear power plants at home, the Ministry of the Environment together with several leading companies and universities has been quietly developing Japan's capacity for wind power.
The first deep-water offshore wind turbine started generating power last month off the Goto Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture, and another floating turbine off the coast of Fukushima is set to start operations later this month. Each turbine has an output of 2,000 kilowatts.
That is a good start to a new and better energy policy that deserves to be expanded. It will be expanded as other offshore wind projects move into development. These initiatives, tentative as they may be, are important steps toward improving Japan's energy condition and recover from the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Wind power should become a top priority for Japan.