Japan’s first green party formed by anti-nuclear movement: Group seeks to reflect anti-nuclear, environmental, pro-democracy movements By Mike Feinstein, member, GPUS International Committee.
They said over 70% of the nation don’t want nuclear power, I truly hope that would reflect in the result of tomorrow’s general election. Vote for Greens Japan!!!
TPP*Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership
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I would like to share her personal story with you. It really touched me and gave me more courage to face the issues concerning Fukushima.
She is really accepting of the tragedy that the nuclear disaster brought to her and many other people, she has became really aware and lives her life in a true sense. She is humorous as well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to reflect that side of her with my limited capability, but I will be happy if this summary helps you to get some hope and courage to be able to live through this confused world we live in.
Mrs. Setsuko Kida and her family are evacuees from Tomioka machi in Fukushima prefecture and now living in Hitachi-city in Chiba prefecture. They were the ones who could afford to evacuate out of Fukushima prefecture.
She said in the video that she was very upset about the whole thing after the disaster till very recently, and was thinking of just leading her quiet retired life, with her family and her dog in the new place.
She now understands how nuclear energy is so dangerous… Tomioka-machi is 8km away from the Fukushima Nuclear plants. Her son developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph glands, when he was on 2nd year of junior high school and needed to be treated at hospital.
About the same time a boy from the neighbourhood developed leukemia. Then 3 or 4 years later another boy had suffered heart diseases and went overseas for an operation. This February, she got to know a child of her daughter’s friend who died of leukemia. They all used to live near her home in Tomioka-machi.
She also commented that when children who evacuated out of Fukushima prefecture died, it’s was not included in the statics of no. of death in Fukushima prefecture.
Her son got a job at Fukushima Daiichi plant when he finished school and stayed there for 12 years. He had carried on working as a clean-up worker after the disaster and got exposed to higher dose of ionizing radiation and now is currently being treated at the hospital.
(Editor’s note) And there are so many people like him. Probably he is one of workers who have been better treated than those who were sent from the 4th to 10th subcontractors. Because many of them weren’t monitored properly, therefore it’s difficult for them to get any help if they get ill. I also heard that some workers found dead during their couple of days break or during sleep overnight. Tepco doesn’t count them as death in their record because they didn’t die during their work.
Hearing what’s been said about Tepco workers and evacuees, and having her own son who is a victim of nuclear power energy, Mrs. Kida couldn’t just sit and being quite. She started to speak out in front of unti nuclear crowd in front of the Parliament last year. Soon her stories went around through internet… one of key figure of anti-nuclear campaigner; Mr. Takashi Hirose supported her appeal. She appeared in these films:
Recently she willingly accepted to take a challenge of becoming one of candidate for Greens Japan Party, realizing somebody from Fukushima prefecture need to stand up and speak on behalf of the rest of people in Fukushima.
Her husband wasn’t happy for her decision at first. She hasn’t talked to him and didn’t cook meals for “3 months to persuade him”. Her daughter supported her when their relationship was in crisis.
He finally agreed with condition that she was not going to borrow money with loans, instead using his retirement money to pay the cost of campaigning for the election. It normally cost more than 20,000,000 yen (20 million yen) per candidate.
She used to be a bus guide and was asked to work for the election campaign. It’s good to get extra cash work during the off seasons but she never wanted to support a Politician whom she doesn’t really agree with. So she never took that job. Now she is standing up for herself and talking to the public.
Mrs. Kida questions the rest of Japan if they assume that people in Fukushima prefecture should keep working to sort out the ongoing problems at Fukushima crippled plant. She is asking the rest of Japan to remember that workers are risking their lives. And because of their work, there hasn’t be further explosions.
(Editor’s note)
The Japanese government evacuated about 100,000 (including 87,000 out of 20km radios of the plant), and most of them are still in Fukushima prefecture. 65% of Fukushima prefecture became a radiation control area, so therefore, most of them are still in radioactively contaminated areas unless they evacuated out of Fukushima prefecture into safe area voluntarily. Because there is not enough jobs for people in Fukushima prefecture, many people end up working at the Fukushima crippled plant.
Mrs. Kida is also asking people outside Fukushima prefecture to be more understanding the situation that evacuees going through. Some of them have been labeled as being lazy, not working, just receiving money from the government, spending money in Pachinko Parler, etc. She admitted that it is true but not all of them are like that. She understands how hard for the evacuees to have a limbo state, having to live in the temporary accommodation.
More things she revealed:
*40 accidents per reactor in Daiichi(6 reactors) and Daiini(4 reactors) Nuclear Power Plants in Fukushima prefecture have been happening every year. There were 400 accidents every year altogether.
Why these accidents had been covered up? Some bribery gets paid to head of local government by Tepco. Also sons of head of the local government: Fukushima prefecture, Tomioka-machi, Iwaki-city, Ohkuma-machi and Naraha-machi, they are all Tepco employees.
Also, they get promoted to be a head of towns and villages without difficulties. If family member of the head of local government were working for Tepco, it’s easy for Tepco to cover up the accidents and any bribery going on between Tepco and local governments.
*Daughter of her friend has been suffering from blood in urine and nose bleeding. Lots of report of deformed babies, no brain babies, One baby she saw had only one eye. It’s so painful to talk about them all. There is no report on premature death in the main media.
*Her son told her that his co-worker heard an alarm before Tsunami came. That alarm meant that there was dangerous level of ionizing radiation that leaked from the pipes after they got damaged by the big earthquakes.
(Editor’s note)
Even now Tepco, the Japanese government and Nuclear Regulatory Authority officially don’t admit that earthquake was an initial cause of meltdown. Their policy of safety measurement is that as long as there is high wall to prevent Tsunami, it’s ok. Even after Nuclear regulatory authority suspects there is active fault on the site of nuclear power plants, unless more than 50% of probability, they kept saying they need to investigate further and eventually give a go sign later on.
She has been to several meeting with Tepco employees and spoke to persons with her Fukushima women’s group. One occasion she told them to speak out the truth. They couldn’t answer her questions. She went on saying that they wouldn’t be able to say any truth because they were frightened, they might get killed by the shadowing people who were involved in death of Mr. Nishimura who used to work at Monju (First breeder reactor) in Japan.
They looked down and got very quiet as if they admitted that what she said was right. She realized that there was no point of accusing them, and understand how hard for them to pretend everything is ok. She still go there and hope that one day they would be courageous enough to stand up against the authority to say the truth.
もんじゅ西村事件の概要
Summary of Monju Nishimura Case
Summary of Monju Nishimura Case
Group seeks to reflect anti-nuclear, environmental, pro-democracy movements By Mike Feinstein, member, GPUS International Committee – See more at: http://gp.org/greenpages-blog/?p=3162#sthash.wpU3CDeT.dpuf
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