Tokyo governor shies away from support for Abe on nuclear energy

Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe said Wednesday that his metropolitan government would launch a new fund to promote use of renewable energy, but he refused to take a stand on nuclear power. Asked about weather the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is a suitable operator of nuclear plant, Masuzoe told reporters at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan: "Even if we have some shares of the corp., we can't say big words to it. We can express some opinions, but it is subject to the central government." Though as the fourth-largest shareholder of TEPCO, the metropolitan government only holds a stake of 1.2 percent, leading to a limited voice on the utility, according to Masuzoe. The former health minister was backed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to run for the governor. In spite of strong opposition, Abe is planning to restart Japan's 50 nuclear reactors, which were shut down after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. But during the speech, Masuzoe didn't give a straight answer about Japan's future energy supply, just noting that it's up to the central government to decide whether to bring the nation's nuclear energy back online. He promised to launch a new fund to accelerate construction of bicycle rings in the lead up to Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, and increase the ratio of renewable energy to 20 percent, up from 6 percent currently. Masuzoe also said he wanted to visit Beijing as soon as possible to learn experience of hosting a successful Olympic Games.