The fragile political truce after the natural disaster in Japan ended on Thursday when the head of the main opposition party called for the unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned over his handling of the disaster and the subsequent nuclear crisis. In the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, engineers are still trying to find a new way to cool one of the six reactors affected and Nuclear Safety Agency and Industry of Japan (ASNJ) said it was "highly probable" that has a hole in suppression unit reactor.
Kan, whose public support is around 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst natural disaster in history and pass laws to pay the higher national reconstruction plan since the Second World War. Kan's Democratic Party controls the lower house of parliament, but needs the help of the opposition to pass laws, because it has no majority in the Senate, which can block new legislation.
But the head of the main opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-which last week refused to support the Government, on Thursday asked Khan to leave. "It's time for (Prime Minister) will decide whether or stays," the Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki told a news conference.
Tanigaki statements reflect the views of many in his conservative party want Kan resignation as a condition for any coalition. There is also hope that Kan criticism within his own Democratic Party gain strength after the influential party member Ichiro Ozawa censure the prime minister for his handling of the crisis.
The chairman of the Senate, Takeo Nishioka, a known critic of Khan, also demanded the resignation of prime minister, Kyodo said. However, it is unlikely that Khan, who took power as Japan's fifth leader since 2006 in June, resign so easily, and the opposition may risk a barrage of criticism if he tries to get into a political battle budgets the disaster, analysts said.
"Kan probably ignore this (the request for resignation)," said Koichi Nakano, a professor at Sophia University. "If (critics of Kan) think about national interests, would it now?" He said. EVEN FROM A SOLUTION TO THE NUCLEAR CRISIS five weeks ago, a magnitude 9 quake and tsunami killed nearly 28 000 dead or missing, devastated a wide area of northeastern Japan and damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.
So far no sign of a resolution of the nuclear crisis. The nuclear safety agency said it may need a new plan to cool one of the six reactors at the plant, because of the large volume of highly radioactive water of the place, and would carry out tests to determine if bars fuel are emitting radioactivity.
"It may be difficult to completely eliminate the contaminated water, thus enabling work continues (to restore power to the cooling pumps). May have to consider other options," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the ASNJ. Nishiyama said there were 20 000 tons of polluted water into the basement and a tunnel under the reactor 2.
"What makes the unit 2 decisively different number of units 1 and 3 is that it is highly likely that there is a hole in the suppression chamber (unit 2) because they heard an explosion. It would be wise to believe speculation there is a leak, "he added. Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 and may be emitting high levels of radiation.
Japan's nuclear crisis has been equated with the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, although the total amount of radiation released is only a fraction of the vote in the nuclear plant explosion in Ukraine. Japan has expanded an evacuation zone of 20 km around the plant by the high cumulative radiation.
So far, there has been no reported deaths related to radiation and only 21 workers at the plant have been affected by lower radiation. A series of strong aftershocks struck this week that Japan, hampering recovery efforts in the plant due to the temporary evacuation of workers and power outages.
The total cost of damage was estimated at 300,000 million dollars, which makes it the costliest natural disaster in the world. Makoto Iokibe, head of a government panel recently established to develop a recovery plan, suggested the idea to apply an excise duty of reconstruction, and bond sales and donations to fund the law.
"Given the potential cost increase may have to be supported by the entire Japanese population. That's why I mentioned (excise duty). But it has not decided anything concrete," Iokibe said in a press conference after the first meeting of panel. 
Kan, whose public support is around 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst natural disaster in history and pass laws to pay the higher national reconstruction plan since the Second World War. Kan's Democratic Party controls the lower house of parliament, but needs the help of the opposition to pass laws, because it has no majority in the Senate, which can block new legislation.
But the head of the main opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-which last week refused to support the Government, on Thursday asked Khan to leave. "It's time for (Prime Minister) will decide whether or stays," the Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki told a news conference.
Tanigaki statements reflect the views of many in his conservative party want Kan resignation as a condition for any coalition. There is also hope that Kan criticism within his own Democratic Party gain strength after the influential party member Ichiro Ozawa censure the prime minister for his handling of the crisis.
The chairman of the Senate, Takeo Nishioka, a known critic of Khan, also demanded the resignation of prime minister, Kyodo said. However, it is unlikely that Khan, who took power as Japan's fifth leader since 2006 in June, resign so easily, and the opposition may risk a barrage of criticism if he tries to get into a political battle budgets the disaster, analysts said.
"Kan probably ignore this (the request for resignation)," said Koichi Nakano, a professor at Sophia University. "If (critics of Kan) think about national interests, would it now?" He said. EVEN FROM A SOLUTION TO THE NUCLEAR CRISIS five weeks ago, a magnitude 9 quake and tsunami killed nearly 28 000 dead or missing, devastated a wide area of northeastern Japan and damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.
So far no sign of a resolution of the nuclear crisis. The nuclear safety agency said it may need a new plan to cool one of the six reactors at the plant, because of the large volume of highly radioactive water of the place, and would carry out tests to determine if bars fuel are emitting radioactivity.
"It may be difficult to completely eliminate the contaminated water, thus enabling work continues (to restore power to the cooling pumps). May have to consider other options," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the ASNJ. Nishiyama said there were 20 000 tons of polluted water into the basement and a tunnel under the reactor 2.
"What makes the unit 2 decisively different number of units 1 and 3 is that it is highly likely that there is a hole in the suppression chamber (unit 2) because they heard an explosion. It would be wise to believe speculation there is a leak, "he added. Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 and may be emitting high levels of radiation.
Japan's nuclear crisis has been equated with the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, although the total amount of radiation released is only a fraction of the vote in the nuclear plant explosion in Ukraine. Japan has expanded an evacuation zone of 20 km around the plant by the high cumulative radiation.
So far, there has been no reported deaths related to radiation and only 21 workers at the plant have been affected by lower radiation. A series of strong aftershocks struck this week that Japan, hampering recovery efforts in the plant due to the temporary evacuation of workers and power outages.
The total cost of damage was estimated at 300,000 million dollars, which makes it the costliest natural disaster in the world. Makoto Iokibe, head of a government panel recently established to develop a recovery plan, suggested the idea to apply an excise duty of reconstruction, and bond sales and donations to fund the law.
"Given the potential cost increase may have to be supported by the entire Japanese population. That's why I mentioned (excise duty). But it has not decided anything concrete," Iokibe said in a press conference after the first meeting of panel.
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