Sailor: “After we left Japan, it felt as if the ocean itself was dead”

[Art_from_Ark]

125. Once again, Kan was not dumped because he became anti-nuke

He was dumped because he did not effectively lead. The Japanese public was very much against nuclear power in the aftermath of the disaster, and if he had been on top of things, rather than relying on a spokesman to do his talking, his party likely would have won the April 2011 local elections and he would have remained prime minister.

I will say this in defense of Kan: The disasters (plural) were so massive and wide-scale that they probably would have overwhelmed anyone who was sitting in the prime minister's chair. And the massive amounts of money that had to be diverted to the rebuilding and relocating efforts hurt the economy as a whole. I think Kan was being given bad economic advice to cut back on non-disaster-related spending, and that also hurt him, as did the overvalued yen. As soon as Abe got in, he opened up the money valves at the Okurasho and is being credited with turning the economy around. That is the main reason why Abe's party won such a decisive victory in last July's Upper House elections.