Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 4 - 10 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

‘Zero-nuclear power’ call resounds throughout gov’t district

A massive day of action, called “No Nukes Day” events hosted by three antinuke organizations, took place on March 8 in Tokyo’s government district with a total of 23,000 citizens participating.

The Abe government is planning to resume nuclear power generation while many people are still suffering from the Fukushima nuclear accident that occurred four years ago.

At a rally held at the Hibiya Amphitheater, organizers along with other speakers who came from prefectures with nuclear power plants emphasized the need to increase joint efforts to work to achieve the decommissioning of all nuclear reactors. Japanese Communist Party member of the Iwaki City Assembly in Fukushima, Watanabe Hiroyuki, talked about the labor counselling service he helped to set up for workers engaged in decontamination work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and its surrounding areas. Former astronaut Akiyama Toyohiro said, “Let us unite to continue organizing antinuke rallies like this to achieve ‘zero-nuclear power’.”

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, Kira Yoshiko (Upper House), Fujino Yasufumi (Lower House), and Ikeuchi Satori (Lower House) participated in another rally outside the main gate of the Diet building. Democratic Party of Japan and Social Democratic Party lawmakers also participated.

JCP Chair Shii pointed out that 1,800 Fukushima residents have died during the prolonged evacuation from their residences, having to stay in “temporary” evacuation facilities. This number exceeds the number (1,603) of those who died in the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, and criticized TEPCO and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for having taken no measures to stop the radioactive water leakage for more than one year.

He stated, “The crisis is far from being brought under control. Nuclear reactor restarts are absolutely out of the question.”

The government, after encountering strong protests from Fukushima small business owners, has decided to postpone the termination of compensation payments for business damages caused by the nuclear crisis. Shii added, “However, the government hasn’t given up on the plan for the discontinuation of compensation. It doesn’t want to take responsibility for the crisis management and wants to stop paying compensation. It’s the most heartless government imaginable.”


Past related articles:
> Polluted water leakage proves Fukushima disaster not under control [February 27, 2015]