SACRIFICE

Japan PM Refuses Year's Salary

Until crisis at Fukushima is over.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced on Tuesday that he would not accept his premier's salary "until we can see the prospect of a solution to the nuclear accident," or until TEPCO officially declares that the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was no longer in crisis mode. Kan is prepared to forego his 1.6 million yen ($20,000) monthly prime minister's wage, but will keep his lawmaker's wage of roughly 800,000 yen ($10,000). He decided not to take any money shortly after TEPCO announced it would be doing the same for the time being. He also vowed to rely less on nuclear power and more on renewable energy sources, aiming to use nuclear energy for only 50 percent of the country's power by 2030. Just recently Kan shut down another nuclear plant southwest of Tokyo, taking precautionary measures in the quake-prone region.