June 3, 2013
In opposition to the Abe Cabinet moves to reactivate idled nuclear reactors and export nuclear power plants abroad, about 60,000 citizens participated in a rally in Tokyo on June 2.
One large assembly organized by trade unions and civil groups took place at Meiji Park. Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said in his speech, “It is absolutely preposterous for the government to push made-in-Japan nuclear power reactors to foreign countries while the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident has yet to be brought under control.”
In that rally, a variety of events attracted many people. A photo exhibition of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was held at a booth of the joint center for the restoration of Fukushima. Visitors gazed at pictures ranging from Japanese dried persimmons which cannot be sold due to radioactive contamination to local residents going home with radiation protection suits on.
Another rally was held at Shiba Park near Tokyo Tower, which was called for by well-known writers such as Nobel laureate Oe Kenzaburo. Oe said to the audience, “I want to leave a world in which future generations can actually survive.”
In the evening on the same day, around 60,000 people, including the participants of the two gatherings, surrounded the Diet building. Misao Redwolf, the leader of the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, called to demonstrators, “We have to check the advance of pro-nuclear forces in this summer’s Upper House election. Let’s unite our efforts to force the government to enact a policy to create a ‘nuclear power-free Japan’ as soon as possible.”
Ogata Mika, a 23-year-old nurse who attended the rally from Fukuoka Prefecture, said, “As a nurse working to protect people’s lives, I will continue to work to abolish all nuclear power plants which are a direct threat to people’s lives.”
One large assembly organized by trade unions and civil groups took place at Meiji Park. Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said in his speech, “It is absolutely preposterous for the government to push made-in-Japan nuclear power reactors to foreign countries while the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident has yet to be brought under control.”
In that rally, a variety of events attracted many people. A photo exhibition of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was held at a booth of the joint center for the restoration of Fukushima. Visitors gazed at pictures ranging from Japanese dried persimmons which cannot be sold due to radioactive contamination to local residents going home with radiation protection suits on.
Another rally was held at Shiba Park near Tokyo Tower, which was called for by well-known writers such as Nobel laureate Oe Kenzaburo. Oe said to the audience, “I want to leave a world in which future generations can actually survive.”
In the evening on the same day, around 60,000 people, including the participants of the two gatherings, surrounded the Diet building. Misao Redwolf, the leader of the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, called to demonstrators, “We have to check the advance of pro-nuclear forces in this summer’s Upper House election. Let’s unite our efforts to force the government to enact a policy to create a ‘nuclear power-free Japan’ as soon as possible.”
Ogata Mika, a 23-year-old nurse who attended the rally from Fukuoka Prefecture, said, “As a nurse working to protect people’s lives, I will continue to work to abolish all nuclear power plants which are a direct threat to people’s lives.”
