German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Tokyo ahead of scheduled talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In preparation for this summer’s G-7 summit, Merkel plans to discuss climate change, terrorism and free trade.
Visiting Japan for the first time in seven years, Merkel said she would campaign for investment in renewables. However, another kind of energy will rank even higher on the agenda.
Four years after the Fukushima plant meltdown, precipitated by a earthquake and a tsunami, Japanese leaders have pushed to reactivate some of the country’s 48 commercial nuclear reactors to reduce emissions and dependence on foreign energy.
“In light of the lessons in the experience of Fukushima,” Merkel told the national broadcaster NHK ahead of her journey, “we would like for Japan to undertake the same road as Germany.”
All of Japan’s 48 reactors remain offline following the 2011 nuclear disaster, although regulators have already approved restarting four of them. German public opinion swung further against nuclear power after the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, leading Merkel’s government to order the shutdown the of the country’s atomic plants by 2022.
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