nuclear-news

Japan’s politicians starting to worry about (their jobs) and anti nuclear protests

as numbers swell there are indications the country’s usually inflexible politicians are getting worried and just might start paying attention.

they [protestors] are very ordered: protesters stick to the anti-nuclear message and go home in an orderly fashion at the appointed time.

But the demonstrations’ regularity and sheer size – – is giving the government pause for thought in a country where for decades the political elite has largely ignored popular opinion…..

Nuclear fears galvanise Japan’s sedate society Channel News Asia: 20 July 2012 TOKYO: Japan’s usually sedate societyis angry and getting organised against nuclear power, with the kind of snowballing protest movement not seen for decades. Weekly demonstrations outside the prime minister’s residence attract tens of thousands of people and a rally in west Tokyo this week drew a crowd organisers claimed at 170,000, demanding an end to atomic power in post-Fukushima Japan.

And as numbers swell there are indications the country’s usually inflexible politicians are getting worried and just might start paying attention….. “No one used to care before (the disaster),” said
Masaki Yoshida, a mother-of-three who was forced from her Fukushima
home by the radiation-spewing plant.

“But people now think keeping their mouth shut means saying ‘yes’ to
nuclear power.”

Protesters’ demands are simple: Japan should abandon atomic power, a
technology that industry, government and regulators had sworn was safe
until a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent a towering tsunami crashing into
the Fukushima plant.

One by one, the country’s nuclear reactors were shuttered for safety
checks and by May 5 this year, a technology that had provided a third
of Japan’s electricity needs was idle…..  Prime Minister Yoshihiko
Noda in June ordered the restarting of two reactors.

That galvanised businessmen, housewives, parents with young children
and a large number of elderly people, who came to the conclusion that
taking to the streets was not so radical.

For Japan, analysts say, this marks a sea change in public attitudes
where demonstrations are things that happen in other countries or
belong to the past…. Kiyoshi Abe, professor of media and
communication studies at Kwansei Gakuin University, said the large
number of elderly people was a key characteristic of the recent
movement.

“I think many of those who experienced World War II and particularly
the misery of atomic bombs are participating,” Abe said.

“Elderly people worked hard and kept silent for the sake of the
country’s recovery from the war, but they seem to have realised that
what they dreamed of is different from what they are seeing now,” he
said.

Abe said unlike sometimes bloody riots in other countries, the large
presence of elderly appeared to have a calming effect on rallies in
Japan.

And they are very ordered: protesters stick to the anti-nuclear message and go home in an orderly fashion at the appointed time.

But the demonstrations’ regularity and sheer size — even taking the
police estimate of 75,000 people for Monday’s protest — is giving the
government pause for thought in a country where for decades the
political elite has largely ignored popular opinion…..
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1214560/1/.html

July 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, opposition to nuclear