NY Times reported the demonstration as “Largest Protest in front of Prime Minister’s Official Residence since the 1960s”


NHK reported that there was a demonstration.  The coverage, however, was a mere formality.  No information on the scale of the demonstration and public anger is available on the NHK news.  There is no other way to say that NHK really plays dirty.
Masatoshi Takeshita


* Information from Mr. Takeshita posted on his blog – June 30, 2012


English translation of a Japanese article from “Monju Bosatsu” blog – June 30, 2012 

NY Times Reports Meeting to Protest against Restart of Ohi Power Station as Largest Protest in front of Prime Minister’s Official Residence since the 1960s

Photo from NY Times

On Friday last week 45,000 people got together for a demonstration, but NHK reported nothing special.
Organizers say that 200,000 people joined in this meeting to protest against the restarting of Ohi power station.
I guess that even NHK was not able to continue ignoring this size of demonstration.  However, other Japanese media had not changed a bit.
They never covered such a big scale of demonstration.
Instead they reported that the sister of Mr. Taro Yamamoto, an icon of no-nuke movement, had been arrested on suspicion of violating the Cannabis Control Law (possessing cannabis).
This has demonstrated anew how terribly rotten Japanese mass media is.

Photo from NY Times
In Tokyo, Thousands Protest the Restarting of a Nuclear Power Plant (NY Times)

Reprinted from NY Times

TOKYO ― Shouting antinuclear slogans and beating drums, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the prime minister’s residence on Friday, in the largest display yet of public anger at the government’s decision to restart a nuclear power plant.

The crowd, including women with small children and men in suits coming from work, chanted “No more Fukushimas!” as it filled the broad boulevards near the residence and the national Parliament building, which were cordoned off by the police.

Estimates of the crowd’s size varied widely, with organizers claiming 150,000 participants, while the police put the number at 17,000. Local media estimated the crowd at between 20,000 and 45,000, which they described as the largest protest in central Tokyo since the 1960s.

Protests of any size are rare in Japan, which has long been politically apathetic. However, there has been growing discontent among many Japanese who feel that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ignored public concerns about safety this month when he ordered the restarting of the Ohi power station in western Japan.

Ohi was the first plant to go back online since last year’s accident in Fukushima led to the idling of all of Japan’s 50 operational nuclear reactors, which supplied a third of the nation’s electricity. Three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant melted down after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out crucial cooling systems.

Mr. Noda said he ordered the restarting of two of Ohi’s reactors to avoid power shortages that could cause blackouts during the sweltering summer and also cripple industry. However, political analysts have warned of a public backlash after opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Japanese opposed the restart, with many saying that the government had failed to persuade them that the plant had been made safe.

On Friday, many of the protesters complained that Mr. Noda was trying to take Japan back to its political business-as-usual of powerful bureaucrats and industry executives making decisions behind closed doors. Some described their outrage over the restart decision as a moment of political awakening, saying they were taking to the streets for the first time.

“Japanese have not spoken out against the national government,” said Yoko Kajiyama, a 29-year-old homemaker who carried her 1-year-old son. “Now, we have to speak out, or the government will endanger us all.”

“To restart the nuclear plant without ensuring its safety is crazy,” said Naomi Yamazaki, 37, another homemaker and first-time demonstrator. “I know we need these plants for power and jobs, but I don’t trust the authorities now to protect us.”

Organizers said a such mistrust has led to a quick growth in the size of the protests, which have been held every week since late March. The protests began with a few hundred participants, but rose into the thousands after Mr. Noda’s restart decision, said one organizer, Misao Redwolf, a illustrator based here in Tokyo.

Tetsunari Iida, director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, an energy policy group based in Tokyo, said the protests reflected wider discontent toward the government, which many say failed to protect public health after the accident, and then rushed to get the country’s reactors back online.

“There is anger and a loss of confidence in the government,” Mr. Iida said. “This is an irreversible change, and I expect this type of movement to continue.”

For his part, the prime minister seemed unfazed by the protests. “They’re making lots of noise,” Mr. Noda remarked to reporters as he left his office for his private quarters.

While noisy, the protesters on Friday demonstrated Japan’s penchant for being well organized and fastidiously polite. In many places, they kept passages clear for pedestrians and stood in neat lines along sidewalks. When the protest ended at 8 p.m., organizers quickly dispersed participants using megaphones, with hardly a scrap of garbage left behind.

Hiroko Tabuchi contributed reporting.

The Most Peaceful and Biggest Demonstration in the World (in Japan, Tokyo – June 29, 2012)


* Information posted by Unity Design – June 30, 2012

English translation of a Japanese article from Mr. Naoto Amaki’ s blog – June 30, 2012

The Most Peaceful and Biggest Demonstration in the World

Naoto Amaki

I joined in a demonstration around the prime minister’s official residence to protest the restart of the nuclear power plant operation.

First, I was surprised at the number of participants.  That many protesters got together in the demonstration around the prime minister’s official residence for the first time since the struggle over the U.S.-Japan Security Pack.

Moreover, participants will increase from now on.  This is literally the first movement in Japanese history.

Secondly, I hear this demonstration was completely different from any conventional one whose participants are mobilized by political parties or labor unions.

I say “I hear.”  This is because I don’t know the difference between the two.

However, a certain leftist party member demonstrator said that he hardly found regular demonstrators and the participants were not organized crowd.

What he says is true because he is a regular demonstrator.

Thirdly, this demonstration was the one in which strangers got together with one purpose.

Chants of anti-nuke sometimes intermitted.  In the interval there were public speeches with a microphone.

Most of the speeches were given by politicians.

Each of them started his speech with the political party he belongs to and his name.

However, such self-promotion seemed to throw a wet blanket on the demonstration led by ordinary citizens.

It does not matter what your social standing is or where you come from.  Only the protest against the use of nuclear power and the restart of nuclear power plant operations is a matter of importance.

It is the most important that an overwhelming number of unknown people voice their anger to the Noda administration that plans to restart the nuclear power plant operation, and they encompass the prime minister’s official residence.

Only those who join in the demonstration and voice an objection are not clever but it is important to take action in the hope that the voice will change the politics.

Incidentally, I saw so many beautiful women, young and old, standing out in the demonstration.


It does demonstrate that doing right makes a person beautiful, I think.


Lastly, I have realized that this is the most beautiful demonstration in the world.


It does not mean the demonstration took place quietly.


The crowd angrily shouted the slogan of anti-nuke.


Normally, no doubt such a large scale demonstration is likely to bring about violence between the demonstrator and the police.


However, the demonstrators acted in an orderly manner as instructed by the police.  Policemen with microphones informed the demonstrators to keep on walking not to cause traffic jams.  The organizers of the demonstration called for the demonstrators on obeying the instruction of the police, and the demonstrators followed them.


I am sure there is not such a peaceful demonstration in any other country than Japan.

And yet, the demand of demonstrators is so radical.  They call for the Noda administration to step down.

Can a demonstration without leader, a demonstration not led by specific political party or organization can move the politics?

I was wondering about it while putting myself in the demonstration.

What will happen if this demonstration never stops as long as the DPJ led by Noda tries to restart the operation?


What will happen if the number of demonstrators increases week by week and has reached one million?


If so, as is to be expected, the government cannot force the nuclear power plant operation to be restarted.


Even if politics cannot stop the government from restarting the nuclear power plant operation, a demonstration will be expanded in the form of peace movement unless the public allows the restart and the government stops the demonstration.


The government cannot help but follow their voice.


This is the very example that a peaceful demonstration can change the government politics.


An unprecedented peaceful and biggest demonstration will correct the mistake the government made.


To become a central player in this remarkable accomplishment, let’s join in this historical demonstration once at least!


If this kind of demonstration takes place one after another, with whatever slogan may be: consumption tax increase or Osprey deployment, no doubt Japan will change!


I left with a sense of satisfaction because I found hope in the demonstration.