nuclear-news

Conservatives and right wingers now part of Japan’s anti nuclear movement

“Some in the very right wing of conservative thinkers have become anti-nuclear after 3/11,”..  ”The Friday protests also have some right-wingers. It’s not just lefties,” 

“Morality and economic growth are possible without nuclear power,” he concludes. 

Nationatalist Japan manga author joins anti-nuclear fight Asahi Shimbun, 25 Aug 12, Japan’s anti-nuclear movement has a new supporter: bestselling nationalist “manga” author Yoshinori Kobayashi, known for his controversial defense of Tokyo’s wartime aggression, has joined the growing ranks of those who want the country to end its reliance on atomic power in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.

The attack from an unexpected quarter comes as Japan tries to decide the role nuclear energy should play in a new national energy portfolio amid growing pressure from voters worried about safety after last year’s Fukushima atomic disaster, the world’s worst in a quarter of a century.

“Shouldn’t Japan immediately abandon the old science of nuclear power
that … is linked to the destruction of the nation, and carry out an
energy revolution leading the world?” writes Kobayashi in the
afterword to his latest work, a 360-page tome that hit bookstores on
Aug. 24.

His backing for the anti-nuclear cause reflects the broadening of the
base of a movement traditionally linked with left-leaning activists.

“Some in the very right wing of conservative thinkers have become anti-nuclear after 3/11,” said Sophia University professor Koichi
Nakano.

“The Friday protests also have some right-wingers. It’s not just
lefties,” he said. Anti-nuclear protests outside Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Noda’s office each Friday have become a feature of Japanese
political life….
Echoing other nuclear critics, Kobayashi’s manga takes aim at Japan’s
“nuclear village”, a powerful nexus of politicians, utilities and
bureaucrats, backed by the media, who for decades promoted nuclear
energy as safe, cheap and clean.

He also dismisses the argument made by Japan’s business lobbies that
the resource-poor economy will suffer if the country shuts down the
reactors that before Fukushima supplied almost 30 percent of
electricity needs.

“Morality and economic growth are possible without nuclear power,” he
concludes. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201208250022

August 25, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics