Japan's top steel maker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp said on Friday it hopes to restart its Nagoya steel plant as soon as possible after it was shutdown due to a fire on Wednesday, but it did not have a definite timetable. The company received permission from local police and the prefectural government on Thursday to resume operations at the plant, except for a coke oven and its related facilities where the fire started, on condition it ensured safety and soundness of the facilities, a Nippon Steel spokeswoman said.