Antinuclear rally draws 170,000 people at central Tokyo park

ORIGINAL: Mainichi

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An anti-nuclear power plant rally called for by a group led by Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe and other celebrities drew a crowd of around 170,000 people Monday at Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, according to organizers.

At the assembly held under a scorching sun, dubbed "100,000 People's Assembly to say Goodbye to Nuclear Power Plants," journalist Satoshi Kamata said at the opening event, "We want to bring an end to nuclear power plants immediately."

Oe criticized the government's stance of trying to restart nuclear reactors when the Fukushima nuclear crisis has not yet fully been resolved. "I feel we're being insulted by the government" due to the recent rebooting of a reactor, a move he described as "a plot by the government."

The rally, which also featured live musical performances by Japanese singers, was part of the ongoing antinuclear campaign "10 Million People's Action to say Goodbye to Nuclear Power Plants" that has been conducted following the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The organizing group consists of the Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs, commonly known as Gensuikin, and other bodies.

According to the organizers, the event drew not only activists from civic groups but also numerous private citizens concerned about their future. The number of participants in the rally at Yoyogi Park was unparalleled for an event there, they said.

Anti-nuclear energy protesters march on a street in Tokyo Monday, July 16, 2012. Tens of thousands of people gathered at a Tokyo park, demanding “Sayonara,” or goodbye, to nuclear power as Japan prepares to restart yet another reactor, and expressed outrage over a report that blamed culture on the Fukushima disaster. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Kumiko Kobayashi, 59, from Tokyo's Meguro Ward brought her children and granddaughter in participating at an antinuclear protest for the first time. "The first priority is to halt nuclear power plants. I want the government and the general public to have a normal way of thinking and realize that," she said.

A 90-year-old novelist and Buddhist nun, Jakusho Setouchi, said she is skeptical about whether the government will listen to the people's wish to do away with nuclear power. "We nonetheless need to assemble. We're taxpayers. We can and should express our opinions," she said.

Economic commentator Katsuto Uchihashi and journalist Takashi Hirose were among others who spoke at the rally.

The participants took to the streets after the rally, marching about 3 kilometers near the park and chanting such slogans as "We don't need nuclear power plants," and "The government, stop deciding without public consent."

Oe and others have also been collecting signatures from 10 million people as part of the action. As of July 8, around 7.85 million people had offered their signatures and some have already been presented to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.

A weekly antinuclear rally has been held every Friday for months in front of the prime minister's residence in Tokyo and has been drawing an increasing number of people. Civic groups staging the event say a June 29 meet drew 200,000 people but the Metropolitan Police Department put the total count at around 17,000.