Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday he would not accept his premier’s wage until a crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant is over and pledged a full review of the country’s energy policy. Kan was speaking hours after about 100 villagers who fled their homes near the stricken plant made brief but emotional return journeys into the rural no-man’s land in radiation suits and masks to pick up personal belongings.
Japan was plunged into a nuclear crisis by the March 11 quake-tsunami that hit the plant, causing partial reactor meltdowns, explosions and radiation leaks in the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago. The centre-left leader in a televised press conference signalled that Japan would maintain nuclear power but also boost the role of renewables, making them key pillars of the energy policy of the world’s number three economy.
Kan said that “along with the plant operator, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), the government bears a great responsibility for the nuclear accident as it has pursued a nuclear energy policy.” Apologising to the nation, he said: “I have decided to give up my annual allowance as prime minister from June, until we can see the prospect of a solution to the nuclear accident.”
Kan was set to forego his 1.6 million yen (about $20,000) monthly premier’s wage, but was to keep his lawmaker’s wage of nearly 800,000 yen, the cabinet office said. Earlier on Tuesday, TEPCO said its president Masataka Shimizu and other directors would also return their remuneration “for the time being.”
