According to a recent poll, 70 percent of Japanese respondents oppose restarting the nation's shuttered nuclear power plants, despite the threat of summertime blackouts and higher utility bills. 78 percent of the nation's 54 nuclear reactors are currently shut down for maintenance, inspections and meltdowns.

Before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, nuclear power had provided nearly a third of the nation's electricity; it now provides less than 20 percent. The Japanese government recently dropped plans to double the nation's nuclear power generating capacity, and pursue an aggressive strategy of wind, solar, biomass energy in its place.