Japanese executives aren’t known for bucking the establishment. Hiroshi Mikitani is a rare exception at a time when rebellion is most needed. The president of Rakuten, Japan’s biggest online retailer, turned 46 on March 11. That was the day when a record earthquake and tsunami set off the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and forever changed the way Japanese view the reactors in their midst. Almost five months later, the Fukushima Daiichi plant is still leaking radioactivity.
A growing majority of the country’s 127 million people want a future devoid of radiation-contaminated air and food. Forget it, says corporate Japan. The economy will collapse if we give up on nuclear power.
Count Mikitani among those who disagree. He recently quit Japan’s main business lobby, Nippon Keidanren, to protest against its support of the energy status quo. Japan needs to harness power from safer sources, but the government lacks the courage to seek them. So, the private sector is filling the void – a rare event in Japan.
Most notable is Masayoshi Son, 53, Softbank chief executive officer. The billionaire is shaking up the utilities market with plans to invest about $1 billion (R6.8bn) to build 10 solar farms.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan would like to take on the alliance of politicians, bureaucrats and power companies promoting the nuclear industry. He has even proposed a halt to plans for 14 new reactors.
It is naive to think the forces arrayed against Kan aren’t playing a role in his demise. More than any leader, Kan has taken on the nuclear-industrial complex, Japan’s answer to the nexus of business and the military in the US.
The industry’s allies are rallying to maintain the supremacy of nuclear power. A huge scare campaign is under way to convince voters living standards will shrivel if Japan de-emphasises atomic energy. Before the Fukushima disaster, the industry provided about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity. The plan was for that to rise to 53 percent by 2030.
The earthquake changed all that. The science of nuclear power makes perfect sense on paper. It emits little pollution or greenhouse gases and doesn’t rely on dirty and expensive imported fossil fuel.
Yet something that didn’t change between Ukraine in 1986 and Japan in 2011 is the human factor – the risk of design flaws, shoddy construction and poor training of reactor personnel.
Fukushima’s back-up generators that might have averted the disaster were located in a basement and swamped by the waves.
This monumental foolishness is summed up by Ken Brockman, a former director of nuclear installation safety at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna: “This in the country that invented the word tsunami.”
The bigger irony is how the only country ever to be attacked with nuclear weapons – and the one with the most seismic activity – so enthusiastically embraced a nuclear future.
Japan needs an explosion of fresh ideas, innovation and investment to become less reliant on reactors. Unless engineers can build them out of rubber, elevate them on huge shock absorbers and address every potential risk – including terrorism – this should be a priority for any leader who succeeds Kan.
A recurring question in Tokyo has been: Who put Homer Simpson in charge? Japan’s nuclear-safety record these past 15 years seems no sounder than that of the fictional Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, where on The Simpsons, Homer is head of safety. Only, this is no laughing matter.
Alternative energy is an obvious chance for Japan to lead the world. Deflation and excessive debt cost Japan its economic vitality, especially as China thundered ahead to become the world’s second-biggest economy.
Japan is a role model when it comes to energy efficiency. It should act fast to assert itself as the dominant power in clean energy, solar technology and storage batteries. It would create jobs, wealth and international prestige.
Sadly, Tokyo’s political class is preoccupied with internal, shortsighted squabbles. The good news is the private sector is pushing ahead on its own. As of July 27, a total of 17 big Japanese cities jumped on the alternative-to-nuclear bandwagon.
It’s a good start towards getting Homer Simpson’s hands off the controls – and a rare sign of hope in a country that hasn’t had a lot to cheer about.
William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.