Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 9 - 15 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

40,000 people voice opposition to restart of nuclear reactors

About 40,000 people on October 13 held rallies and demonstrations in central Tokyo in protest against the Abe government move to restart idled nuclear reactors in Japan.

This is a joint action organized by three civil groups, including the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes (MCAN) to create a nuclear power-free Japan.

Some 2,000 citizens took part in a gathering at Hibiya Public Hall starting at noon. All the admission tickets were gone 30 minutes before the opening time. Nakano Takashi, a 28-year-old man from Nagoya City who was standing in line for a ticket, said, “I came here to directly feel the atmosphere of a massive action joined by tens of thousands of people.” At the rally, MCAN leader Misao Redwolf called on the audience to make this action a new starting point to stop the government from reactivating nuclear reactors.

In the afternoon, an enormous number of demonstrators descended on the Diet building and the prime minister’s office. Kawano Makoto, a 24-year-old employee from Kanagawa’s Kawasaki City, participated in a demonstration for the first time in his life. “It seems like a bad joke that Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is promoting the sale of Japanese-made nuclear reactors overseas,” he said.

Hayama Sumi, 28, from Nishitokyo City, said, “The radioactive water leakage from the crippled Fukushima plant to the ocean could affect many nations. I cannot understand why they are so keen to restart nuclear reactors when electricity can be generated by using natural energy.”

At an evening rally held in front of the Diet building, parliamentarians including Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo delivered speeches. Shii said, “The administration has committed to restarting nuclear reactors and selling domestic reactors abroad, instead of addressing the contaminated water leakage in Fukushima and promoting renewable energy generation. Let’s put pressure on the government to give up the reactivation and export of nuclear reactors, as well as for it to concentrate its efforts on bringing the nuclear crisis under control and properly address the water leakage issue.”