On Monday evening, customers at a Starbucks cafe in Tokyo's Nakano ward sipped their lattes in the glow of a single row of lamps and a handful of small, battery-powered tea lights. Such scenes have become common in Tokyo as people across the Kanto region strive to conserve energy after Friday's devastating Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake shut down nuclear power plants in Fukushima.
The electricity demand in Tokyo, explained Tokyo Vice-Mayor Naoki Inose, exceeds the supply by one-third, and a reduction of 25 percent is necessary to avert sudden, massive blackouts. As a result, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) began implementing temporary rolling power outages in areas of Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures on March 14th.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano exhorted the nation to "save electricity in the maximum possible way."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.