nuclear-news

Can Japan’s government continue to ignore the growing anti nuclear protests?

“There’s something wrong in this country when even if thousands of people protest in front of the prime minister’s residence they still reactivate the plants,” 

Tokyo Anti-Nuclear Rally Attracts Thousands As Protests Grow Bloomberg, By Aya Takada, Shunichi Ozasa and Scilla Alecci – Jul 16, 2012 Tens of thousands of people packed Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park yesterday for Japan’s biggest anti-nuclear rally since the Fukushima disaster last year in growing protests against government moves to restart atomic reactors.

Speakers at the demonstration, which broke up at 1:30 p.m. into three separate marches through Japan’s capital, included Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who wrote the score for the movie “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.”

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda angered nuclear opponents last month when he approved the restart of two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503)’s Ohi plant, which were shutdown along with other units for safety checks after the meltdown and radiation release from the wrecked Fukushima station. A Mainichi newspaper poll on June 4 showed as many as 71 percent of Japanese opposed the restart.

“The government allowed the Ohi nuclear reactors to restart and it’s going to allow more reactors to restart. We feel we are insulted by the government,” said Oe in his speech to the rally. “We have to stop the government’s plan,” said Oe, 77, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994.

“No to Nuclear Restarts” has become the rallying cry of protesters every Friday evening since the end of March in demonstrations outside Noda’s official residence. Police estimate around 10,000 people protested there on July 6, blocked from entering by a fleet of pale-blue police buses and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers…..

‘Something Wrong’

“There’s something wrong in this country when even if thousands of people protest in front of the prime minister’s residence they still reactivate the plants,” said Koichiro Mori, a literature student at Kyoto University. “We’ve developed an economy that is capable of sacrificing its own people; our goal is to change such a society,” said Mori, who was at Yoyogi with students representing about 15 universities from Okinawa in the south to Tohoku in the north.

The Yoyogi gathering attracted people from regions throughout Japan, including Fukushima. Beside some singing and drums, the thousands attending — mostly families and the elderly — were seated on the grass waving banners and listening to the speeches, though the speakers were sometimes drowned out by half-a-dozen helicopters circling above……

Radiation fallout from the Fukushima reactors forced the evacuation of about 160,000 people and left land in the area uninhabitable for decades. The potential for a repeat of the disaster at another nuclear plant in earthquake-prone Japan is what is bringing Japanese old and young out on to the streets in large demonstrations not seen in decades.

“I’ve been taking part in the Friday protests every week, it’s a powerful movement,” Hidetsugu Odawara, 80, a former Citigroup Inc. employee and now retired, said at Yoyogi.

“One person alone can’t do much but 100,000 people can make a difference. I’m here to be one of the 100,000.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-16/tokyo-anti-nuclear-rally-attracts-thousands-in-growing-protests.html

July 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, opposition to nuclear