In tsunami's wake, Tokyo-area companies asked for power rationing even as Japanese cut back
Ryan Nakashima, The Associated Press Apr 03, 2011 03:01:48 AM
TOKYO - When a boiling summer hits power-starved Tokyo, even Japan's culture of self-restraint will hit its limit. The March 11 tsunami that smashed into Japan's northeast coast, killing as many as 25,000 people and knocking out nuclear power generation, has transformed this usually bright, bustling metropolis into a dark, humbler version of itself. Running on eco-mode in the cool spring invites few complaints as citizens bundle up, leave work early and even go to bed around sundown. Escalators are still, trains run without air conditioning, and popular night time baseball games have been suspended. Many say any complaints are hollow compared to the deprivation and destruction further north.
"Shikata ga nai," a popular stoic phrase meaning "it can't be helped," is frequently on people's lips.
But as the sticky, hot summer with daily highs in the mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s Fahrenheit) approaches and normally persevering Japanese reach for their aircon remotes, the government is bracing for electricity demand to jump, overreaching supply. "I think it will be nearly impossible for Japanese people to live without air conditioning," said Atsuhiko Sudo, a 32-year-old filmmaker, walking out of a gloomy-looking Yodobashi Camera store in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics shopping district.
The government is asking industries that rely on electricity generated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. — operator of a crippled nuclear power plant in the northeast — to come up with plans by the end of April to cut energy use even more in preparation for summer.