6.11 No-Nukes Demonstration in Japan: Ground-Zero Report by "J" in Tokyo (Guest Post)

My friend's friend's friend "j" attended not just one but two demonstrations in Tokyo (one in Nerima-ku, and the other, bigger one in Shinjuku-ku) and sent her level-headed and frank observation (original in Japanese).

Several interesting bits of information that I've never seen elsewhere in the news:

• The Social Democratic Party (former Japan Socialist Party) was there big-time, as if to try to hijack the grassroots movement;

• Lack of anger toward the government agencies and organizations who have promoted nuclear energy;

• Volunteer organizations collecting donations during the demonstrations in a manner that ordinary Japanese find hard to say no.
  

The first point is not surprising to me. It is like the neoconservative right claiming to be the leaders of the "tea party" movement in the US. But I've never read about their presence in the demonstration anywhere else.

The second one is not so surprising either. Trust in the government runs deep, not just in Japan but elsewhere. It is more likely that TEPCO has been obliged to do whatever the government has ordered them to do, including not disclosing the information, but the people's anger are being cleverly directed to the big bad greedy capitalist TEPCO.

The last one reminds me of a street musician group in Paris 10 years ago. They were playing wonderful music, but as we listened, a person with a donation box came and stand in front of the audience, stuck the donation box in front of my face and asked for money. I thought that was crass, not befitting the superb music they were playing.

Still, "j" seems to think it was a significant event, just to show to the rest of Japan and the world that there are people in Japan who are anti-nuclear across the different political and social spectrum.

The following is her personal observation on 6.11 No-Nuke demonstrations in Tokyo, Japan:

昨日の新宿、結構な人数が集まって（首都圏として考えると少ないと思うけど）それなりの盛り上がりをみせてました。午前中のゆるい「練馬アクション」でのモヤモヤを帳消しにはできました。

Yesterday [June 11]'s Shinjuku had a sizable crowd (though not that big considering how big Tokyo is) and a decent action, enough to dispel my vague dissatisfaction with the "Nerima Action" demonstration in the morning.

ただね、参加した私の感想としては、なんだかすごーーーく違和感があったの。それは朝の練馬のときからありました。

But things didn't feel quite right for me, and that feeling started from the Nerima demonstration in the morning.

今回の「6.11脱原発100万人アクション」に私が参加しようと思ったのは、民衆主導のデモだということ、“脱原発”を訴えることが趣旨だということ、の2点。

I decided to participate in the "6.11 No-Nukes One Million People Action" event for 2 reasons: One, it was a grassroots movement; and two, it was to appeal for no nuclear energy.

でもさ、のっかってるんですよ「社民党」が。ガッツリのっかってる。

But then, the Japanese Social Democratic Party was right there at the demonstrations, free-riding the grassroots movement.

私は、これまで個々で活動していた市民団体が一体となって、民衆の声として起こしたものだと思っていたので、これにはかなりゲンナリしました。

I thought this was the people's movement, the small individual citizens groups got together and joined forces. I was rather disgusted to see the Social Democrats there.

練馬でも社民党の旗が振られ、新宿でも同じ旗が振られ、あげく宣伝カーまできて、議員がマイクで一発ぶっちゃう始末。

The Party's flags were waved in the Nerima event, same in Shinjuku, then the Party's PR car came and some party Representative started to make a speech.

これだとさ、いち民衆として参加している私からすると、まるで社民党支持者にさせられているような気分になります。政党がかかわるなら最初から表明してほしかった。

For me, participating in the event as an ordinary citizen, it felt like I was forced to become a supporter of the Social Democratic Party. If a political party was going to be involved, I would have liked to know it from the beginning.

そもそも社民党って、民主党政権発足時に連立組んでたよね。民主党の原発推進マニフェストを受け入れていたってことでしょ。それを今になって「社民党はずっと反原発でした」みたいな顔でのっかってこないで欲しい。

The Social Democratic Party became a coalition partner when the Democratic Party of Japan first became the ruling party. That means these Social Democrats accepted the DPJ's manifest of promoting nuclear energy. Now they're trying to hijack the movement saying they have been anti-nuke all along? Give me a break.

これ1つとっても、この先、デモに参加するかどうか考えてしまう。

Makes me wonder whether I should participate in a no-nuke demonstration from now on.

それと、デモにつきもののシュプレヒコールですが、その内容にも一言いいたい。

I'm not happy with the slogans at the demos either.

今回の趣旨は「脱原発」のはず。

The whole point of the demonstration was to appeal for "no nuke".

東電の責任に関するものは今回は違う気がしましたよ。

Not about accusing TEPCO.

「清水出てこーーーい！」「福島原発をさっさと終息させろ！」（それは、現場ではやってますって）とかは、また別のデモなんじゃないの？って。「東電は全ての原発を停止・廃炉にせよ」「東電は情報を全て公開しろ」だったらOK。

"Shimzu [TEPCO's president], come out!!" or "Do something quick about Fukushima I Nuke PLant!" (they ARE doing something at Fukushima I) - that's another demonstration, isn't it? I'm OK with the statements like "TEPCO should stop all nuke plants and decommission them" and "TEPCO should disclose all information."

そもそも、東電の責任を訴えるのであれば、これまでクソの役にも立ってこなかった、原発関連法人の解体も訴えるべきだし、保安院出てこい！原発推進してきたヤツら出て来い！って、同列に言うべき。

If you're going to hold TEPCO responsible, you should also demand the dismantling of the government corporations for nuclear energy which haven't done sh-t [her word], and shout "NISA, come out! Everyone who's promoted nuke plant, come out!"

なにかこう、東電だけにもってこう的な違和感を感じてしまった。もちろん東電に責任があることは事実だけど、「だけじゃない」でしょ、っていうね。

It felt strange to me, holding only TEPCO responsible. Not that TEPCO is not responsible, but they are not alone, are they?

あとはさ、アルタ前広場ってのは良くなかったね。いや、良かったのか？ あそこは広場と名がつくものの、実は狭～いので、多少のヒトが集まるとそれ以上のヒトが集まっているように見える「アルタ前広場効果」なるものがありますからねぇ。

And then, the choice of the Alta Plaza [for Shinjuku demonstration] wasn't good. Oh wait, was it good? It's called "plaza" but the place is actually very small. So, even the small number of people could look big. The "Alta Plaza Effect", so to speak.

東京にはコンコルド広場なみの広場が無いからなぁ。私としてはあれくらいが埋まらないと大規模デモとは呼べないけどね。

Tokyo doesn't have a big space like the Concord Plaza [Place de la Concorde, in Paris, France]. To me, a big demonstration is the one that would fill the Concord Plaza.

あとさ、募金回収が行われているのもちょっとした違和感。

Also, donation solicitation was pretty awkward.

今回のことは、有志が自発的に起こしたものなのに、横断幕や準備にお金がかかったのでぜひ募金を！と練馬でも新宿でも言われたんだよね。しかもヒトが箱持って回ってくるから、日本人としては断りづらいじゃない？（苦笑）でも、なんかそれってヘン。練馬では身元がハッキリしてたので10円募金（ケチ！）したけどさ、新宿のなんか、誰でどこの所属なのか分からんもん。だからスルーした。

The event, as far as I knew, was voluntary. But people came for money in Nerima and Shinjuku, saying it cost money to prepare for the demonstrations so please donate. They stuck a donation box in front of the participants. As a Japanese, it was difficult to say no, but I didn't like it. In Nerima, I donated 10 yen [12 cents] (I'm cheap) because they were what they said they were. But in Shinjuku, I couldn't tell who they were. So I ignored them.

署名もそうね。皆、自分の氏名と住所という大事な個人情報を記入するのに、どこの団体がやっているものなのか、とかあんまり気にしてない。「雰囲気」とか「ノリ」で署名するのって危ないよ。

Same with signature gathering. No one beside me seemed to care very much who they were signing for and gave away the personal information like name and address. It's not safe to give away your information in the excitement of the event, without much thinking.

...とまあ、日本のデモはまだまだ未熟だな～という感じでした。それでも、日本でも所属・思想は別として「脱原発」と思っている民衆が居るのだ、というアピールにはなったと思います。

Overall, my feeling was that Japanese people are inexperienced when it comes to demonstration. Still, I think it achieved the purpose of appealing [to the rest of Japan and the world] that there are people in Japan who are against nuclear power, regardless of the social status or political leaning.

これからは予め募金や寄付をつのって神宮球場とか横浜球場で、ちゃんと舞台作って、主催者をはっきりさせて入場料（500円でワンドリンク付きとか）とって、フェスみたいな感じで集まるのが良いのではないかと思う。

I think in the future it may be better to organize the event as some kind of a festival in a big venue like baseball stadiums, soliciting donations beforehand to plan for the event, and selling tickets (500 yen for admission and a drink, something like that) for people to participate.

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