Japan Press Weekly

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2017 March 29 - April 4 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Weekly protest against nuclear power generation continues for five years

Braving the cold rain, the anti-nuclear power weekly Friday night action took place in front of the Prime Minister’s Office on March 31, marking its 5th anniversary.

Calling for a zero-nuclear power Japan, the action began in 2012 about one year after the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. The organizer of the action is the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes (MCAN) consisting of various civil groups working in the metropolitan area to pressure the government to withdraw from nuclear power generation and keep all nuclear power plants in Japan offline.

This weekly Friday protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, the political nerve center of Japan, has contributed to breaking though the commonly-held negative image of demonstrations and has helped the general public to realize that it is a fundamental democratic right to gather around the Diet building to speak up against state authorities’ maladministration.

MCAN’s major activist Misao Redwolf criticized the Abe government for adopting the basic energy plan which places nuclear energy as a key power source without a thorough investigation of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and without offering adequate compensation for the suffering experienced by Fukushima victims. She pointed out that the Abe government’s reckless policy on nuclear power generation conflicts with the overwhelming public demand for a Japan free from nuclear power. She expressed her determination to carry on with the protest action to gain the abolition of all nuclear power plants.

In the 5th anniversary action on March 31, 500 people participated and shouted in chorus, “End nuclear power generation!” “Don’t restart NPPs!”

A 69-year-old man living in Tokyo’s neighboring Chiba Prefecture has attended the protest almost every Friday for four years. He said, “I’ll keep on joining the action until Japan takes a step toward becoming a zero-nuclear society.”

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Miyamoto Toru delivered a speech in solidarity, saying, “I pay heartfelt respects to your five-year protest action. I’ll continue working to realize an end to dependence on nuclear power generation.”

Past related article:
> Anti-nuclear power weekly action reaches 200th milestone [June 18, 2016]