For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the reconstruction delays are a potential time bomb. Before he became prime minister in December 2012, Mr Abe campaigned in parliamentary elections on a pledge to speed up reconstruction, a promise he has repeated on both anniversaries of the disaster since he took office. As opposition leader he chided the government for not moving fast enough on rebuilding: "Japan has no future without reconstruction of disaster - hit areas," he declared during a tour of Fukushima, where the tsunami crippled a nuclear plant.