Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 28 - April 3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

3,000 in Ibaraki rally against nuclear plants

About 3,000 people took part in a rally held on April 1 near the Tokai Daiini Nuclear Power Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, resolving to work to have the plant decommissioned and help to establish a Japan free from the danger of nuclear power generation.

An organizer of the rally read out messages from Tokai Village Mayor Murakami Tatsuya and Fukushima’s Namie Town Mayor Baba Tamotsu.

The Tokai Village mayor in his message criticized national government leaders for being irresponsible with no sense of ethics as they push forward for the reactivation of suspended nuclear reactors. He stated, “Our mission to the international community is to get rid of all nuclear reactors in Japan.”

The Namie Town mayor criticized both the national government and TEPCO’s response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis and related examples of the town’s hardships in the wake of the disaster.

The Tokai Daiini NPP was also damaged in the 3.11 disaster last year, and was close to experiencing a severe accident like the Fukushima Daiichi NPP.

A 62-year-old woman who works for a direct-from-the-farm vegetable center said, “Many greengrocers are suffering economically from the Fukushima accident. It’s not just other people’s problem here as long as the Tokai Daiini NPP remains.”