MAKI - A small coastal farming town in northern Japan, voting in the country's first referendum, returned a resounding "no" yesterday to a proposal to build a nuclear power plant.
The election commission of Maki, a town of 30,000 people on the Japan Sea coast about 250 km (160 miles) northwest of Tokyo, said the referendum result was 12,478 "no" against 7,904 "yes" votes.