What is the importance of nuclear power in Japan?

Having been to Fukushima and Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and sights in between and close by, there is nothing the Japanese cannot imagine and accomplish. Why not take this moment in history to make a real revolution, the revolution of unplugging nuclear forever here.

Whether the inventions that have invigorated culture, science and communication for five decades are enough of a resume isn't the question. The question is what kind of Japan will Japanese enjoy in the next fifty years?

On the anniversary of the destruction of the futility of aggression where are the Japanese leaders who can rise above the clumsy embrace of nuclear devastation waiting in each seismic temblor? Where are the Japanese of strength and wisdom who will now make Japan Nuclear Free?

One cannot love Japan and accept her underpinnings that are the seeds of her ultimate destruction. Better a beacon be as she has been for so many years. It is hard to love a place so much and so much fear her suffering for no reason in the shadow of Hiroshima.

What is the importance of nuclear power in Japan?

Indispensable to LDP coffers?

without it Japan will either have to import fossil fuels or become a world leader in clean energy....?? so ironic given Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Why not take this moment in history to make a real revolution, the revolution of unplugging nuclear forever here.

Revolutions are usually messy, and don't have the desired outcomes. A mad rush to embrace non-nuclear and fossil fuel free energy is likely to lead to chaos. Using the existing nuclear plants seems sensible to me. Save money initially by reducing imports of fossil fuels. Hopefully use the savings to develop better alternative methods of providing electricity.

Why not take this moment in history to make a real revolution, the revolution of unplugging nuclear forever here.

Because Japan has no oil, gas, or coal. Japan's northern latitude makes solar inefficient (about .003% as efficient as nuclear) and as the world's second-largest consumer of electricity, putting a windmill on every tree in the country would not satisfy demand.

And with Japan's exports shrinking, and less foreign currency coming in, buying large amounts of oil and gas has upset Japan's trade balance. In such situations, Japan must expend foreign currency reserves, which is difficult, as these foreign reserves are a hedge against Japan's immense public debt.

Japan could abandon nuclear, if it wanted to risk economic disaster.

Why not take this moment in history to make a real revolution, the revolution of unplugging nuclear forever here.

You're a dreamer. Btw, where are the anti-nuclear energy posters? They ought to read this story.

@sangetsu . . . excellent comment.

As 'sangetsu03' has pointed out, the economics of non-nuclear energy just don't cut it today. Probably in the future, there will be some technical breakthroughs that change this fact, but for now, the economics of nuclear outweigh their risks.

Some may be forgetting their history. In 2011 the government shut down all reactors.

Those who are concerned about the use of the word "revolution" may be imagining some form of conflict.

Revolution is often used in recognition of technical advancements, like the internet, or scientific discoveries like solar, geothermal or kinetic wave power generation. Japan is home to such revolutions and has been for decades.

Before the chicken littles scurry for dark corners of fear because the revolution of clean power is dawning, remember also that the only thing we have to fear is those who are too afraid to imagine new solutions for cleaner and more sustainable power globally.

The few here who seem most fearful seem also the leaste imaginative. Of course, that would require another article dealing with human psychology and not the ultimate replacement of nuclear power with Japan's greatest resource, human ingenuity.

Important to get rid of it.