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In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown,
street activists and residents alike
are looking for new solutions to generate power for the city.
Kohei Hayamizu is one of those people.
Hayamizu is the CEO of Soundpower Corporation,
a Tokyo start-up that is developing ways to harness electricity
from small-scale everyday actions like walking, sitting and talking.
One prototype project involved installing specialized square panels
on the floors around Shibuya Station,
one of the city's busiest areas
to turn the vibrations generated by the thousands of pedestrians into electricity.
He thinks something like this could have a multiplying effect
once it is implemented on a larger scale.
Other projects are equally ingenious.
The technology is still new
and most of the energy generated is designed for small-scale individual use.
Hayamizu is now in talks with city governments
to begin implementing some of his innovations.
And there are more on the way.
He sees possibilities everywhere he looks around Tokyo.
As Japan examines its entire energy policy in the wake of Fukushima,
its citizens are re-examining their own power usage.
Hayamizu thinks some of the innovations he's developing
could go a long way towards revolutionizing modern-day Tokyo.
Reporting from Tokyo, this is Michael Condon for Global Post.