Japan anti-nuclear governor quits over sex scandal


Ryuichi Yoneyama. -AFP

TOKYO: An anti-nuclear Japanese governor stepped down Wednesday after a magazine alleged he paid university students for sex, a resignation that could boost the government’s plan to restart the country’s mothballed reactors.

Ryuichi Yoneyama was elected governor of Niigata prefecture in 2016 on a pledge to prevent the restarting of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, about 200 kilometres (130 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

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