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| Creative Slogans, Signs, and Posters were in abundance . . . |
In Tokyo there were anti-nuclear power demonstrations in the week leading up to the reactivation of two nuclear reactors on July 2nd. Demonstrations are not at all common in Japan, both due to the reserved nature of the Japanese people, as well as the history of demonstrations in the 60's that turned violent, and subsequently turned the Japanese off to the idea. But we had heard that the movement was gaining traction and it was totally peaceful. So we decided to go on Friday June 29th, the last protest before the reactors were to be reactivated, and the day before we were heading to Fukushima, where one of the actors had gone critical the year before and was to be turned back on. Needless to say we had more than one reason to protest.
The turnout was unbelievable; it was the biggest protest they had had in decades. The police officially said there were 20,000 protestors, but the organizers said it was well over 100,000. I've been in a number of large crowd situations, including demonstrations before, and I promise you there were more than 100,000 there. The government has been doing everything it can to keep the protests under wraps. In fact the international media barely even covered the protest on 6/29. I'm happy to report however that the movement has continued, and gained momentum. Today on 7/29, the protestors surrounded the parliament building with a human chain.
Check out the article here:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/anti-nuclear-protesters-surround-japanese-parliament-1.896790
We had tickets to the theater that evening, and had only intended to stop by for a half hour on our way there. After fifteen minutes at the demonstration, Ehito ran up to us and said, effectively: "Forget the theater! We're staying here!" And so we did. It was certainly one of the best decisions we made in Tokyo. Here are some impressions from that night, one that we will not soon forget:
