Two big news items out of Japan this week have captured global attention. Osaka-based Suntory on Monday announced it will buy Beam Inc., BEAM +0.26% producer of Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Knob Creek bourbons. Then a historically wide trade deficit sent stocks in Tokyo into a nosedive on Tuesday. But investors might have missed what could prove to be a far more consequential development: the start of a local election campaign that threatens to upend national energy policy.
Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on Tuesday threw his hat into the ring for Tokyo metropolitan governor. The election, precipitated by the resignation of the incumbent last month in a campaign-finance scandal, is due on February 9. Mr. Hosokawa says he is running "because I have a sense of crisis that Japan faces various problems, especially nuclear power that could imperil the fate of the country."Lest anyone doubt that Mr. Hosokawa intends to turn the election into a referendum on nuclear power, he has enlisted another former prime minister, reformist Junichiro Koizumi, as his No. 1 supporter. Mr. Koizumi in recent months has become a high-profile anti-nuclear campaigner. "The biggest reason why I support Mr. Hosokawa is his view that Japan can prosper without nuclear power," Mr. Koizumi said Tuesday. Voters seem likely to support Mr. Hosokawa, too. He has instantly become the candidate to beat.
This sets the stage for a political battle about the future of an industry that touches every company and household in Japan. It's about time. Japanese pay some of the highest electricity rates in the world, and for a supply that in recent years has grown less reliable.
Source: Wall Street Journal
This sets the stage for a political battle about the future of an industry that touches every company and household in Japan. It's about time. Japanese pay some of the highest electricity rates in the world, and for a supply that in recent years has grown less reliable.
Source: Wall Street Journal
