TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will see mostly normal to above-average temperatures this winter, the country's official forecaster said on Thursday, implying demand for electricity and kerosene for heating may be restrained.
Japan managed to avoid a power shortage this summer in spite of a prolonged heat wave thanks to power-saving efforts at a time when most of its nuclear reactors remain shut amid public anxiety about nuclear safety due to the radiation crisis sparked by last year's earthquake and tsunami.
The disaster wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, causing radiation leaks and widespread contamination in the worst atomic catastrophe since Chernobyl in 1986.
