nuclear-news

Increasing citizen distrust of Japan’s corrupt “nuclear village”

“The government is appointing experts from the so-called nuclear-power village to a new nuclear-power regulation committee. They are corrupt,”

Citizens’ groups propel rising wave of antinuclear activism Japan Times, 19 Aug By ERIKO ARITA  “……Mirei Akagi, a 33-year-old mother of two from Saitama Prefecture, was at the Yoyogi Park protest. She said she had participated in several protests and that each time she had learned about them via the social-networking website Facebook…..

Like Akagi, many of the participants that The Japan Times spoke to learned about the rallies through social media sites. Others, particularly more elderly protesters, said they were informed via traditional media outlets.

Yuichi Hayashi, a 19-year-old university student from Chiba, who
learned about the weekly protests through the microblogging service
Twitter, is frustrated over the lack of a response from authorities.

“Noda reportedly said, ‘They’re making a a lot of noise,’ about the
people who are angry over his decision,” Hayashi said, referring to
comments the prime minister made about the protesters that he found
dismissive. “But these voices are not just noise.”

A similar frustration was voiced by Koji Minegishi, a 56-year-old
businessman who pointed out the relationships between nuclear power
industry regulators and the authorities.

“The government is appointing experts from the so-called nuclear-power
village to a new nuclear-power regulation committee. They are
corrupt,” Minegishi explained, adding that he received his information
on the protests from reading newspapers…….
Two collectives are responsible for the dissemination of information
for the antinuclear rallies. One of them is Sayonara Genpatsu
Issenmannin Akushon (Goodbye Nuclear Power, 10 Million People in
Action), a coalition of older organizations, and the other is the
Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, made up of newer organizations.

Sayonara Genpatsu was responsible for the massive rally in Yoyogi
Park. It consists of 60 citizens’ organizations that include the
long-standing antinuke group Gensuikin, the Consumers Union of Japan,
celebrities such as Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe and musician Ryuichi
Sakamoto, and journalist and writer Satoshi Kamata.

The collective held its first demonstration last September in Meiji
Park in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, which attracted 60,000 people,
according to organizers. Afterward they started planning the July
demonstration at Yoyogi Park, according to Kamata.

“To attract as many people as possible, we advertised the rally by
holding lectures and meetings across Japan,” he said.

For the Yoyogi Park rally, Sayonara Genpatsu organizers gained
permission to use the park from the Tokyo Metropolitan Park
Association, before setting up 50 temporary toilets and stationing
groups of medical staff there, Kamata said…….
The Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes was established in September
2011 and includes a network of more than 10 groups…….
On March 29, the coalition began staging protests at the prime
minister’s office against the restart of nuclear reactors.

From the hundreds who first participated the numbers have now grown to
200,000 on June 29, according to the coalition. Ever since the restart
of the Oi reactor on July 5, the coalition says the number of the
protesters has remained steady at around 90,000 in August.

The true number of people joining the protests has been a contentious
issue and there is a huge discrepancy between the numbers given by
organizers and those of the police. But Hattori said the reason for
this is the difference in counting methods.

“The police only count people when the protest begins. But people
continue to join the protest after it has begun and we count them
all,” he explained…..
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120819x1.html

August 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, media