Matsumoto Kenichi, special adviser to Prime Minister Kan Naoto, says they are looking at using Germany’s eco-friendly city models to build a new home for refugees from the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The concern is that so much contamination has spread around the 30km (18.6 miles) danger zone, that people will not be able to return for 30 years or more (just like Chernobyl).

The proposed refugee city would be based on eco-friendly projects undertaken by several German cities.  The city should be self sustaining, and have no more than 100,000 residents.   As in the German experiments, residents would grow their own crops, and produce their own electricity, which could be sold on the power grid.  There would also be no car zones, and pedestrian only zones.

Japan should consider the German model for all its cities, not just a refugee city.