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One of two new solar arrays in the Ogishima district of Kawasaki is seen in this aerial photo on Aug. 5. (Mainichi)

In August 2011, a law instituting a feed-in tariff for renewable energy was passed by the Diet. The law requires utilities to purchase all surplus electricity generated by individuals and corporations through renewable energy sources.

"It was a moving moment," says former Environment Agency director general Kazuo Aichi.

Twelve years ago, a non-partisan association of lawmakers promoting "natural energy" chaired by Aichi had in fact attempted to pass a similar law. Aichi, however, lost an election soon afterwards, and the bill was shelved. Aichi believes that power companies had a hand in his election loss.

It all began in 1998, when Tetsunari Iida -- who at the time was engaged in a grassroots campaign to spread renewable energy and is now head of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP) -- called on House of Councillors member and current Social Democratic Party President Mizuho Fukushima, Aichi, and other lawmakers interested in environmental issues to look into initiating a renewable energy bill.

"I was aiming for a European-like method surpassing bipartisan antagonism, and involving all politicians in hammering out policy," says Iida. He refrained from calling for the outright abandonment of nuclear power, and actively sought out Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) legislators to join in the efforts as well.

On Nov. 24, 1999, the aforementioned association of lawmakers dedicated to promoting renewable energy was launched. Among the 257 members were Seiroku Kajiyama and other LDP heavyweights.

After conducting multiple study sessions with Iida, Aichi and other association members completed the bill in April 2000, which was then taken back to each of the parties for review. The House of Representatives, however, was dissolved that June, and in a snap election, Aichi lost his electoral district in Miyagi Prefecture to then Democratic Party of Japan newcomer Azuma Konno by a 15,000 votes. The loss came as a complete surprise.

"Tohoku Electric Power Co. did nothing to help. I only realized that in hindsight," Aichi says, looking back. Until then, Tohoku Electric Power had always supplied Aichi with its own employees to help with his election campaigns, and often bought tickets to his fundraisers.

"It was understood that Tohoku Electric Power's management side would support me in elections, and that the union would support the DPJ. But only the union participated in the election that time. I thought to myself, 'Oh, so this is how they do things.'"

After Aichi lost his seat, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto became chair of the legislators' renewable energy association, but New Komeito member and upper house lawmaker Shuichi Kato recalls that "contrary to expectations, things were slowgoing." Eventually, Hashimoto came to advocate that the bill be initiated by the administration, and the legislator-led initiative fizzled out.

Says Aichi, "Within the lawmakers' association, there were 'guard dogs' with close ties to the power industry. Our every move was probably leaked to bureaucrats."

Since the establishment of the association, then Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) had begun to actively engage in the creation of a different bill. After many twists and turns, the Act on Special Measures Concerning New Energy Use by Operators of Electric Utilities was passed in 2002. It did not require utilities to purchase energy from individuals and corporations.

"We ran into a wall put up by MITI bureaucrats and utilities," Iida says. "The bureaucracy was wary of having control over policy decisions taken away from it."

A decade has since passed. The renewable energy law that was approved by the Diet last year left the prices and periods of energy purchases to a third-party organization. The arrangement was established during Diet deliberations to prevent the decisions from being made at the discretion of bureaucrats.

Huge wind power generators stand in the Aomori Prefecture village of Rokkasho with the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the background. (Mainichi)

However, of the five candidates proposed for appointment by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to the third-party organization, three have been opposed to or taken a cautious stance toward the feed-in tariff law. An opposition lawmaker has since called the development a bureaucrat counterattack. On Dec. 5 last year, five ruling and opposition lawmakers held a press conference demanding a retraction of the personnel proposal.

Ostensibly, the appointment proposal was drawn up by METI based on recommendations from the DPJ, LDP and New Komeito. However, LDP lower house member Masahiko Shibayama believes METI's list was not compiled under fair conditions. "Even the person in charge of the issue within the LDP has said they haven't heard how the candidates were recommended," he says. "The way the people have been selected is problematic."

"No one knows who submitted the lists, and what the lists say," a government insider says. "This manner in which policy has been decided resembles conditions preceding the Sino-Japanese War."

Meanwhile, an official at METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy said: "Ultimately, the decision was made by the minister. From where we stand, we cannot comment on what kinds of lists the three parties submitted."