20110520

Tokyo-based artists confess nuclear art stunt

by AFP

A Tokyo-based art collective has admitted doctoring a mural by the late master Taro Okamoto about the horrors of a nuclear explosion with an image of the crippled Fukushima plant, according to reports. ChimPom, a group of six avant-garde artists, said they came up with the clandestine image which caused a stir when it was added on April 30 to "Myth of Tomorrow" on display at a busy Tokyo train station, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported. Police are investigating whether an offence has been committed, Japan's Jiji Press agency said. (AFP)

Wind is Japan's strongest alternative to nuclear

by newscientist.com

Two months after the explosions and radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, the prime minister, Naoto Kan, has announced that the country will not build any new reactors. If Kan really means it, the government will have to abandon the plans for expanding nuclear power it adopted only last year. To make up the energy shortfall, Kan has set the ambitious goal of using renewables. That is most likely to mean wind, according to a report released last month by the Ministry of the Environment. There is "an extremely large introduction potential of wind power generation", it says, especially in the tsunami-hit north-east of the country. (newscientist.com)