TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday he would not accept his premier's wage until a crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant is over and pledged a full review of the country's energy policy. Kan was speaking hours after about 100 villagers who fled their homes near the stricken plant made brief but emotional return journeys into the rural no-man's land in radiation suits and masks to pick up personal belongings. The center-left leader in a televised press conference signaled that Japan would maintain nuclear power but also boost the role of renewables, making them key pillars of the energy policy of the world's number three economy. Kan said that “along with the plant operator, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), the government bears a great responsibility for the nuclear accident as it has pursued a nuclear energy policy”. However, he reiterated the government's stance that Japan will not turn its back on nuclear power. The highly industrialized country, which is also heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, currently has 54 reactors. The premier said that “nuclear power and fossil fuels have been two major pillars of the Japanese energy policy”. In Geneva UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant suggested that there were large gaps in international systems to deal with safety breaches. Meanwhile, about 100 evacuees were allowed into the exclusion zone around Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear plant Tuesday for a brief visit to gather belonging from their homes. The excursion marked the first time the government has felt confident enough in the safety of the area to sanction even short trips there. Residents have been pushing hard for weeks for permission to check up on their homes. The evacuees - just a fraction of the tens of thousands forced to flee when the plant started leaking radiation after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami - boarded chartered government buses for the two
