Regional election in Japan shows growth of antinuclear sentiment

New York Times : The future of nuclear energy in Japan was a key issue in the campaign for governor of the Yamaguchi Prefecture. One of the candidates, Tetsunari Iida, is a founder of a renewable energy research institute and a leader of the antinuclear energy movement that has gained strength in the year since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Iida drew support from across Japan by focusing his campaign on the rapid shift away from nuclear power. Although he lost the election, Iida earned 35% of the vote. A further sign of the shift in sentiment in Japan was that Iida’s opponent, Shigetaro Yamamoto, who won with 47.6% of the vote, backed away from the traditionally pronuclear position of the Liberal Democratic Party and promised to halt construction of a new nuclear plant in the prefecture.