Opposition to [the proposed nuclear facility at] Rokkasho was quieted by the distribution of large amounts of money. In return for local acceptance of the project, the Japanese government offered $120 million in subsidies to the village -- equivalent to about $10,000 for each resident. An additional $120 million was offered to surrounding villages. The amounts are small when compared with the project's price tag of $9 billion, but Rokkasho is located in Japan's second poorest prefecture, and the offer appears to have had its intended effect. In February 1991, the incumbent governor, a supporter of the nuclear project, won reelection over two anti-nuclear candidates with 44 percent of the vote.

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From Worldwatch Paper 106, Nuclear Waste: The Problem That Won't Go Away, by Nicholas Lenssen, 1992.

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