In their policy agreement, the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito have failed to declare that they will aim to eventually end nuclear power generation in Japan. They have agreed only to gradually decrease Japan's reliance on it, without indicating the year in which all of Japan's nuclear power plants should stop operating.
Komeito's campaign pledge for the Dec. 16 Lower House election had said that the party will endeavor to achieve "zero nuclear power" as soon as possible.
The agreement shows that because public opinion on ending nuclear power generation is so strong that the LDP-Komeito coalition cannot ignore the call. But it is so vague that the coalition could be said to be trying to postpone ending nuclear power generation indefinitely. The coalition should present a clear timeline to end Japan's reliance on nuclear power and make concrete efforts to realize it.