A crowd of tens of thousands of demonstrators has gathered in Tokyo in front of the residence of Prime Minister Noda to protest the restarting of nuclear reactors in Japan. Noda had given his approval for the restarting of two reactors at the Oi plant.

Following the meltdown at Fukushima last year, the Japanese public has lost trust in nuclear technology. After the disaster, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, all of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors were taken offline, and the public opposed any restarts.

Since the decision to restart the reactors at Oi, an anti-nuclear petition circulated by Nobel Prize winner Zenzaburo Oe has gathered more than 7.5 million signatures.

The protestors gathered in Tokyo shouted antinuclear slogans and chanted, “No more Fukishimas!” Others proclaimed, “the nuclear era is over” and called for Japan to “rise up against the restart.” Many feel that this decision illustrates Noda’s disregard for public safety concerns, as well as public opinion – two-thirds of Japanese opposed the restart of the reactors.

 

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