Tohoku locals and Tokyoites reacted with relief Thursday after Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet survived a no-confidence vote, averting a political vacuum for now, but criticized opposition parties for submitting the motion and the Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers who threatened to or did back it.
The motion was voted down Thursday afternoon. If it had passed, either the Cabinet would have had to resign or Kan would have had to dissolve the Lower House, leaving the political helm unattended and potentially slowing the rebuilding of quake- and tsunami-hit Tohoku.
"If those politicians have time to get in each other's way, I want them to come to Fukushima and stabilize the nuclear plant's situation," said a 25-year-old businessman from Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, where the radiation-leaking Fukushima No. 1 plant is located. The man, who declined to be named, now lives in an evacuation center in Tamura, also in Fukushima.