Koji Takeru stands up and adjusts his tie before addressing the House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful house of the National Diet of Japan. This is the moment of truth, his second ever speech but one that will go down in history.
" Fellow members, as junior minister for energy I have been entrusted with identifying alternative power sources to see Japan into the next millennium, a quest that has taken me to every corner of our blessed archipelago and I am pleased, no, excited, honoured even to say I have unearthed something that will truly change our plans. What I am about to show you is, I believe, what the westerners call a game changer "
The lights go down and a blurry video begins playing on the large screen.
" What you are seeing is the inside of a cave system deep within the sea walls of Shikoku, the entrance of which was opened up by the recent earthquake, this cave system is new to mankind but look, on the wall there, a switch - I am about to press it but first look carefully at the phone I am holding "
A gasp go rounds the chamber, the screen zooms in to show a close up of a hand holding a mobile phone, the time is 11.24 on Friday 17th June.
" ladies and gentlemen we all knows what happens next "
