Efforts to build environmentally friendly wind power plants in Japan have been causing a stir because the best locations for windmills are often national parks, where they could actually do harm to natural ecosystems.
The town of Nandan in Hyogo Prefecture and two other local governments have asked the Environment Ministry, which administers national and quasi-national parks, to allow a wind power plant to be built within a national park.
"This is an environment vs. environment problem," a ministry official said. "There will be a great controversy."