Fukushima Watch: Japan Gets ‘Feudal’ on Reactor Restarts
[link to blogs.wsj.com]

[snip]

The two high-ranking government officials are being sent to the rural seaside town as part of a promise made last month by nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono, in order to pave the way for restarts of Oi’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors—a controversial decision amid widespread public anxiety about nuclear safety.

To many in Japan, the move brings to mind a modern-day interpretation of the feudal-era practice of “sankin-kotai,” or alternating residency, in which local warlords returning to their seats in the countryside were forced to leave their families in Tokyo, as high-class hostages.

In today’s modern version, deputy trade minister Seishu Makino, a ruling party lawmaker, and top nuclear regulator Shinichi Kuroki, will likely be dispatched to help oversee operations at the Oi plant, according to ministry officials, who half-jokingly refer to the two as “hostages” of Tokyo’s nuclear policy.

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Business as usual..
If it weren't so idiotic.. this event would be slightly amusing.