Show us a road map!

 December 12, 2014

Nuclear plant protesters call on opposition parties to show road map

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141212p2a00m0na007000c.html

Antinuclear plant protesters meeting every Friday in front of the prime minister's official residence recently spoke with the Mainichi, with one of them calling on opposition parties to show a road map to a nuclear power-free future.

On the night of Dec. 5, protesters breathed on their hands to keep them warm as they shouted slogans like, "We oppose reactivation of the Sendai Nuclear Plant!" and "Don't retract the goal of no nuclear power plants!"

A 70-year-old security guard passing by the protests who said he is a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) supporter commented, "Even if they call for getting rid of nuclear plants, the opposition parties haven't shown an alternative, have they?"

Both of the national elections since the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster have been landslide victories for the LDP. In the 2012 House of Representatives election, in which the LDP retook control of the administration, the LDP ran on a platform that included creating an economy and society that would not need to be dependent on nuclear power. In this election, however, that language is not in the LDP's party platform, and it is leaning heavily toward nuclear plant reactivation.

Meanwhile, a September poll by the Mainichi showed nearly 60 percent of the public continues to be opposed to restarting the country's nuclear plants.

A 65-year-old head director of a nursery school walking by the protests said, "I want to stop the out-of-control LDP, and I want the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to handle itself well."

Still, when the now-opposition DPJ was in power in June 2012, it decided to reactivate the Oi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. Afterward, in response to public opinion against nuclear power, the DPJ made a goal of having no active nuclear power plants by the 2030s, but it put off making a Cabinet decision on the matter.

"They have the support of power company unions, so I wonder if they are really antinuclear power," said a 72-year-old man participating in the protest.

A 68-year-old man playing an instrument at the demonstration said, "I don't know who to cast my vote for." The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party are running on platforms of instantly taking a no-nuclear plants approach, but the man said, "Even if no plants are restarted, I wish the opposition parties would show a concrete road map for how to dispose of the nuclear waste that already exists."

Misao Redwolf, part of an organization running the protests, which have continued for two years and nine months, said the demonstrations were at their height around the time of the decision to restart the Oi Nuclear Power Plant.

"To put it bluntly, people are less on their toes than back then. But the fact that the protests are still continuing shows that they are stable. I think that what is most important is making our thoughts visible," Redwolf said.

A 64-year-old man who participates in the protests around once a month said, "I'll go to the polls. Even if my vote makes no difference, it's a chance to express myself. If we stop going to the polls, democracy itself will crumble."

Near the end of the protest, a 49-year-old woman said, "Today I stopped by the protest for the first time, on my way home from work. I was thinking about whether it's OK for us to keep having nuclear power."

She added, "Today I again thought about how I alone cannot change anything, but I lent my voice to the protest anyway. I feel the same about the election. Even if it's just one vote, if I don't vote nothing will change."

December 12, 2014(Mainichi Japan)