TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) – Japan is leaning toward a policy of halving nuclear power’s share of electricity supply from pre-Fukushima levels to about 15 percent by 2030, but will likely stop short of pledging the long-term exit strategy that many voters favour, experts said.

That would be a victory of sorts for a nuclear industry that has been under fire since a huge earthquake and tsunami devasted the Fukushima atomic plant in March 2011, triggering meltdowns in the world’s worst radiation accident in a quarter century.

With discussions on shaping future energy policy extending over months, the government has already pledged to reduce the role of nuclear power and in principle to decommission reactors after they have been running for 40 years. That formula would yield a share of around 15 percent by 2030 if strictly followed.

“It is government policy to set the limit on nuclear reactors’ operation at 40 years,” Goshi Hosono, the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, told reporters on Friday.

“Fifteen percent (by 2030) would be in line with that,” Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying after a meeting of expert advisers to the government the night before.

Nuclear power provided about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity needs before the Fukushima disaster, while a 2010 energy policy, ditched after the crisis, had set a target of more than 50 percent for 2030.

Some experts and lawmakers also want to set a target to exit nuclear power by 2050, if not earlier, but are meeting fierce resistance from those who want to throw the industry a lifeline.

TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) – The assembly in a western Japanese town that hosts a nuclear plant agreed on Monday it was necessary to restart two off-line reactors, its chairman said, the first such nod since all the country’s stations were halted after the Fukushima crisis.

With power shortages looming in the region when demand peaks this summer, the central government has been trying to win approval from towns and prefectures that host reactors. All 50 reactors are off-line since the last one shut down for maintenance on May 5.

The government is set to urge businesses and consumers in Kansai Electric Power Co’s service area in western Japan to make voluntary power cuts of 15 percent this summer to cope with shortages, media reported.

The Nikkei business daily, however, said that the government would also consider mandatory power cuts and rolling blackouts if necessary.

Mandatory r estrictions were imposed in some regions last year after the Fukushima crisis, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986, with three reactors suffering meltdowns after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

The central government last month said reactors No. 3 and No. 4 at Kansai Electric Power Co’s plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, 360 km (225 miles) west of Tokyo, were safe to restart.

Officials must still persuade a wary public – including residents of regions close enough to be at risk from a nuclear accident but too distant to reap economic rewards – that a resumption is safe. Delays in setting up a new nuclear regulatory agency due to disputes in parliament have further spooked voters.

TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) – The assembly in a western Japanese town that hosts a nuclear plant agreed on Monday it was necessary to restart two off-line reactors, domestic media said, the first such nod since all the country’s stations were halted after the Fukushima crisis.

With power shortages looming in the region when demand peaks this summer, the central government has been trying to win approval from towns and prefectures that host reactors. All 50 reactors are off-line since the last one shut down for maintenance on May 5.

The government is set to urge businesses and consumers in Kansai Electric Power Co’s service area in western Japan to make voluntary power cuts of 15 percent this summer to cope with shortages, media reported.

That would avoid the mandatory restrictions imposed in some regions last year after the Fukushima crisis, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986, with three reactors suffering meltdowns after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

The central government last month said reactors No. 3 and No. 4 at Kansai Electric Power Co’s plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, 360 km (225 miles) west of Tokyo, were safe to restart.

Officials must still persuade a wary public – including residents of regions close enough to be at risk from a nuclear accident but too distant to reap economic rewards – that a resumption is safe. Delays in setting up a new nuclear regulatory agency due to disputes in parliament have further spooked voters.

Members of the Ohi town assembly noted that many residents still had concerns about safety, but most local lawmakers felt restarts were essential for the town’s economy, Kyodo news agency reported.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government is rushing to try to restart two nuclear reactors, idled after the Fukushima crisis, by next month out of what experts say is a fear that surviving a total shutdown would make it hard to convince the public that atomic energy is vital.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet ministers are to meet on Thursday to discuss the possible restarts of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi plant in Fukui, western Japan – a region dubbed the “nuclear arcade” for the string of atomic plants that dot its coast.

Trade minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, could travel to Fukui as early as Sunday to seek local approval for the restarts, Japanese media said.

If approved, the restarts would be the first since a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima plant a year ago, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

Concern about a power crunch when electricity demand peaks in the summer has been set against public fears about safety since Fukushima, the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Nuclear power, long advertised as safe and cheap, provided almost 30 percent of Japan’s electricity before the crisis but now all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are off-line, mainly for maintenance. The last reactor will shut down on May 5.

“They want to avoid setting a precedent of the country operating without nuclear power because it will create a huge barrier in terms of restarts,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government is racing to get two nuclear reactors, idled after the Fukushima crisis, running again by next month out of what experts say is fear that a total shutdown would make it hard to convince a wary public that atomic power is vital.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet ministers are to meet on Thursday to discuss the possible restarts of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi plant in Fukui, western Japan – a region dubbed the “nuclear arcade” for the string of atomic plants that dot its coast.

Trade minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, could travel to Fukui as early as Sunday to seek local approval for the restarts, Japanese media said. If approved, the restarts would be the first since a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima plant a year ago, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

Concern about a power crunch when electricity demand peaks in the summer has been set against public fears about safety since Fukushima, the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Nuclear power, long advertised as safe and cheap, provided almost 30 percent of Japan’s electricity before the crisis but now all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are off-line, mainly for maintenance. The last reactor will shut down on May 5.

“They want to avoid setting a precedent of the country operating without nuclear power because it will create a huge barrier in terms of restarts,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus.

“People will question why we need it,” he said.

TOKYO (Reuters) – When Yusaku Maezawa quit playing drums in a punk band to devote himself full-time to his business selling Tokyo street fashion on the Internet, his main goal was to have fun.

Twelve years later, Maezawa, 36, is the billionaire CEO of online fashion retailer Start Today, one of a clutch of growing firms led by a different breed of executives determined to avoid the errors of the global Japanese brands whose faltering fortunes are making Japan Inc synonymous with decline.

“I was in danger of becoming a ‘salaryman musician’,” Maezawa said in an interview at his company headquarters in a high-rise office building outside Tokyo, where framed T-shirts hand-sprayed by company executives with letters spelling out “NO WAR” adorn the entrance.

“On the other hand, the company was growing dynamically, I was meeting new people to work with and I heard customers were happy, so it felt like there was more dynamism and growth,” added Maezawa, who named his firm for an album by punk band Gorilla Biscuits.

The company, which now has about 400 full-time employees, expects operating profits to rise by more than 46 percent to 8.56 billion yen ($104 million) in the year just ended.

Maezawa, whose firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s start-up section in 2007 and graduated to the first section in February, may be rare in preaching fun as a management gospel.

“I want to destroy the old concept that a company is a place where one sacrifices time for the sake of money,” he said with an impish grin, confessing he now works a four-day week.

TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) – When Yusaku Maezawa quit playing drums in a punk band to devote himself full-time to his business selling Tokyo street fashion on the Internet, his main goal was to have fun.

Twelve years later, Maezawa, 36, is the billionaire CEO of online fashion retailer Start Today, one of a clutch of growing firms led by a different breed of executives determined to avoid the errors of the global Japanese brands whose faltering fortunes are making Japan Inc synonymous with decline.

“I was in danger of becoming a ‘salaryman musician’,” Maezawa said in an interview at his company headquarters in a high-rise office building outside Tokyo, where framed T-shirts hand-sprayed by company executives with letters spelling out “NO WAR” adorn the entrance.

“On the other hand, the company was growing dynamically, I was meeting new people to work with and I heard customers were happy, so it felt like there was more dynamism and growth,” added Maezawa, who named his firm for an album by punk band Gorilla Biscuits.

The company, which now has about 400 full-time employees, expects operating profits to rise by more than 46 percent to 8.56 billion yen ($104 million) in the year just ended.

Maezawa, whose firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s start-up section in 2007 and graduated to the first section in February, may be rare in preaching fun as a management gospel.

“I want to destroy the old concept that a company is a place where one sacrifices time for the sake of money,” he said with an impish grin, confessing he now works a four-day week.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese ruling party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa threatened to vote against bills to increase the sales tax, the latest sign of trouble for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his battle to fix the nation’s tattered finances.

Analysts say if the proposals are voted down, Noda, Japan’s sixth leader in five years, will be under pressure to resign.

Ozawa, 69, a former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader, told Reuters in an interview that he still hoped Noda would reconsider his plan to enact bills to double the 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015.

The ruling party powerbroker, who heads the DPJ’s biggest faction, declined to spell out precisely what he would do if Noda stood firm.

“What we are saying is that it has become just a tax hike and is ‘social security and tax reform’ in name only. There is no vision for social security reform,” Ozawa said in the interview that was cleared for publication on Thursday.

“Therefore, there is basically no change to my stance that I cannot agree to it (the legislation) as it is,” he said.

Whether all Ozawa’s backers, who by some counts total about a third of the DPJ’s lower house lawmakers, would join him in voting against a tax hike is unclear.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Three months after Japan’s March 11 triple disaster, a long-time expert on the country arrived in Tokyo to research a book he intended to entitle “Rebirth of a Nation.”

Months later, Richard Samuels is calling his work “The Rhetoric of Crisis.”

A year after a the huge earthquake, deadly tsunami and the world’s worst nuclear disaster in a quarter century jolted the country, it is clear that even a shock of such magnitude failed to snap it out of its economic and political torpor.

“So far it seems there was more talk of change than change itself. It is all still being sorted out,” said Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Japan’s mammoth government debt keeps piling up while critical decisions get pushed back, referred to various panels, lodged in elaborate rituals of “consensus-building” or political horse-trading in a gridlocked parliament.

Mainstream political parties, torn by conflicting group loyalties, proved incapable of setting aside their differences and providing the leadership for which the public longs.

Instead, politicians reverted to business as usual: parliamentary trench warfare and the annual “ditch the prime minister” exercise that gave Japan its sixth leader in five years and now threatens to block vital tax and welfare reforms.

TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) – Three months after Japan’s March 11 triple disaster, a long-time expert on the country arrived in Tokyo to research a book he intended to entitle “Rebirth of a Nation.”

Months later, Richard Samuels is calling his work “The Rhetoric of Crisis.”

A year after a the huge earthquake, deadly tsunami and the world’s worst nuclear disaster in a quarter century jolted the country, it is clear that even a shock of such magnitude failed to snap it out of its economic and political torpor.

“So far it seems there was more talk of change than change itself. It is all still being sorted out,” said Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Japan’s mammoth government debt keeps piling up while critical decisions get pushed back, referred to various panels, lodged in elaborate rituals of “consensus-building” or political horse-trading in a gridlocked parliament.

Mainstream political parties, torn by conflicting group loyalties, proved incapable of setting aside their differences and providing the leadership for which the public longs.

Instead, politicians reverted to business as usual: parliamentary trench warfare and the annual “ditch the prime minister” exercise that gave Japan its sixth leader in five years and now threatens to block vital tax and welfare reforms.