As the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station continues, there has been a mounting call in Japan to eliminate or reduce its reliance on nuclear power and to reform the regional monopoly enjoyed by the utilities, notably Tepco.
It appeared for a moment earlier this year that the government was serious about necessary reform when then trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda took disciplinary actions against his ministry's three high-ranking bureaucrats in charge of nuclear policies for failing to take proper steps after the Fukushima accidents.
This has proved illusory, as bureaucrats newly appointed to three crucial jobs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) belong to the "electric power village." The three are Kensuke Adachi, administrative vice minister, Ichiro Takahara, director general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, and Hiroyuki Fukano, director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.