Japanese social movements pushing against nuclear power

Posted on : 2013-03-15 14:15 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Activists in South Korea and Japan trying to heed lessons of Fukushima disaster
 a sociology professor at Hosei University
a sociology professor at Hosei University

By Lee Keun-young, science reporter

“Japan didn’t learn anything from its past nuclear power accidents, and it ended up with the Fukushima disaster. Hopefully, South Korea will analyze Fukushima and learn something from it.”

Harutoshi Funabashi, a sociology professor at Hosei University and anti-nuclear power activist in Japan, gave a lecture on the growing importance of concerted action against nuclear power. The talk came during a discussion on changes in Japanese society after the accident and tasks for South Korea and Japan’s anti-nuclear movements. The event took place on Mar. 12 and was organized by the Korean Federation for Environment Movement and National Assembly Members for a Shift Away from Nuclear Power.

“There’s a lot of opinion in Japan in favor of getting away from nuclear power. With energy companies and other members of the nuclear power complex putting up stiff resistance, solidarity and alliances among the people against nuclear power are becoming more and more critical,” Funabashi said.

The professor began his talk by quoting a “prophecy” made in 1970 by philosopher Arimasa Mori: “A Frenchwoman who had spent a few years in Japan told me she thought Japan was going to be hit by a third atomic bomb [after Hiroshima and Nagasaki], and I could not argue with her.”

Funabashi argued that Japan had taken no lessons from the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, or a 1999 accident that took place at JCO in Tokai-mura.

“Fukushima showed deep-rooted flaws in Japanese society,” he said.

Funabashi pointed to differences among evacuated residents as one of the incident’s tragic outcomes, saying that older people wanted to return home quickly while younger ones were reluctant to do so out of concerns for their young children. He also mentioned cases in which husbands decided to remain in Fukushima to work while their wives and children took refuge far away.

According to Funabashi, Japanese society is undergoing a process of gradual change.

“Many people are viewing themselves as indirect accomplices,” he said. “There’s now a movement under way where people are trying to supply their own energy rather than depending on Tokyo Electric Power Company for it.”

He also pointed to the closing of a Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori prefecture because of an active fault as a first-ever occurrence that indicates currents of change Japan.

“Over the years, Japan has used unfair policies to push for nuclear power,” Funabashi said. “The plants are built outside of Tokyo, which consumes vast amounts of power, and Fukushima and Niigata prefecture have gotten the economic benefits, but the waste is kept in Aomori.”

Funabashi said that overcoming the current situation and establishing a sustainable society would require changes in the decision-making process, where policies on nuclear issues are shaped by the Diet, courts, and government. He stressed the importance of forming a force oriented toward reform, with a citizen campaign serving as its lynchpin. In particular, he stressed the importance of establishing a forum where the opinions of scientists can be considered in government policy decisions.

 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

button that move to original korean article (클릭시 원문으로 이동하는 버튼)

Related stories