Protesters urge Japan to abandon nuclear power
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E-mail China Daily via agencies, July 17, 2012
Tens of thousands of people rallied at a Tokyo park on Monday demanding that Japan abandon nuclear power.
The protest was held as the country prepares to restart another reactor shut down after last year's tsunami-generated meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.
Led by Nobel-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe, pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto and visual artist Yoshitomo Nara, the protesters expressed outrage over a report that blamed the Fukushima disaster on Japan's culture of "reflexive obedience" and held no individuals responsible.
Japan ordered all its nuclear power plants shut down for safety inspections after last year's tsunami and earthquake set off multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Some 150,000 people were evacuated because of radiation fears, and the area is deemed unsafe to live in more than a year later.
The disaster, the world's second-worst nuclear accident after Chernobyl, has deeply divided Japan, which had been previously bullish on nuclear technology.
Monday's rally was the latest and among the biggest - drawing possibly as many as 200,000 people, according to the organizers - in a series of large protests that is unusual for normally reserved Japanese.
Demonstrators marched through streets near Yoyogi park under scorching sunshine, chanting in chorus: "Don't resume nuclear power operation. Prime Minister (Yoshihiko) Noda should quit."
"We want to leave a world without nuclear power for our children," said Takeshi Shinoda, a hospital worker, wearing a "No Nukes" T-shirt and strolling with his 3-year-old son in a long line of demonstrators.
The movement's leaders say they have collected 7.4 million signatures for a petition demanding a phase-out of nuclear power.
Until last month, when Noda decided to restart the reactor at Ohi plant in central Japan, all of the nation's 50 working reactors had been offline. The second reactor at Ohi is set to go online later this week.
Noda has said some nuclear energy is needed to ensure an ample power supply and protect people's livelihoods. Japan's economy is still struggling after last year's disaster, and the towering costs of oil imports to fuel non-nuclear power plants threaten to derail its fledgling recovery.
Critics say Japan has done fine without atomic energy for more than a year.
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