Brave Japanese couple continue thier fight against Japan’s powerful nuclear establishment

Taking on the nuclear strongmen, The Canberra Times , 24 Aug 11 “……..Together, Yuichi Kaido and Mizuho Fukushima are perhaps Japan’s most prominent pair of anti- nuclear activists. For three decades, the couple were at the forefront of an often futile fight against the utilities that operated the nation’s reactors, the corporations that built and maintain them and the politicians and bureaucrats who enabled them. Yet in case after case, judges rejected Kaido’s claims that Japan’s nuclear reactors were dangerous.

In parliament, the nuclear lobby routinely carried the day, casting aside the anti-nuclear platform of Fukushima’s Socialist Party. That stasis was shattered by the tsunami that wrecked the reactors at the Daiichi power plant in Fukushima. An overwhelming number of Japanese, for years ambivalent about nuclear power, are now calling for the country’s remaining reactors to be shut down.

Politicians, even those backed by the nuclear industry, are scrambling to reposition themselves. Once a proponent of building more reactors, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has now called for nuclear power to be phased out. In a perverse way, the tragedy represents an opening of sorts for Kaido and Fukushima, who applaud the prime minister for backing their cause.

Yet, after years of frustration and mindful that change comes slowly in Japan, where consensus-building is critical, Kaido and Fukushima are far from declaring victory. ”I understand that the decision that Prime Minister Kan made carries special importance,” Kaido said. ”The direction is correct, but I wish he would complete the proper process.

He should share his ideas with the public.” The rising anti-nuclear tide in Japan, they said, came at great expense. As a result, they feel humility, not pride. ”I thought my life was a failure right after March 11,” Kaido said, referring to the date of the earthquake and tsunami.

”I devoted myself to legal cases and anti-nuclear activities to prevent this kind of accident but I could not prevent the worst from happening. It was an agonising feeling.” But Kaido and Fukushima also take the long view, a necessity for anyone trying to change the way the country’s most powerful companies and lawmakers do business.

”Although I won’t be able to change the past, I think I can change the future,” Fukushima said. ”We must change decision making in politics.” Kaido and Fukushima decided long ago to devote themselves to this goal…..

And taking on powerful interests can come at a cost, as Kaido learned when he was shown on television handing out anti- nuclear leaflets in front of a train station in Tokyo. His father, an executive at Mitsubishi Electric, which made components used in nuclear power plants, warned him to avoid public protests because it would jeopardise his own career. After the explosion at Three Mile Island, he again told his son to stop his protests because the accident would surely force the government to shut the country’s reactors.

”I vowed to continue these activities as a lawyer, though I felt sorry to have troubled him,” Kaidosaid. He also had a run-in with Fukushima’s mother, who urged him to register for a marriage certificate. But Fukushima did not want to give up her maiden name and Japan’s civil code demands that spouses share the same last name.

So they have not married. The right to keep one’s name is one of the feminist causes that Fukushima has championed. She has pushed for protections against sexual harassment, better care for people with AIDS and greater gender equality.

She also became a television commentator and won a seat in the upper house of parliament in 1998. In 2003, she took over leadership of the Socialist Party. The party has long opposed nuclear power and Fukushima has been particularly outspoken since the post-tsunami nuclear crisis began.

She has called for a firewall between the nuclear regulators and the ministry that promotes the industry and has clashed with Haruki Madarame, chairman of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission and Masataka Shimizu, former president of Tokyo Electric Power. ”The accident you said will not occur has just occurred,” Fukushima said to Madarame in public hearings. ”Are you willing to apologise?”