Friday Protest at PM Official Residence in Tokyo Is On Again This Week at 6PM, Amid Fear of Provocation from Authorities and Other Interest Groups

(UPDATE 2) Some photos and more video links in my latest post.

(UPDATE) Shizuka Kamei, former head of the party (People's New Party, or Kokumin Shinto) that forms the ruling coalition with the DPJ, is going to join today's protest action in Tokyo at 6PM.

Kamei is a former senior police officer.

Last week, there were several heads of the small parties joining the citizens.

Yasuo Tanaka, head of the New Party Nippon (or Shinto Nippon), is also coming today. (He was there last week also.)

People are already gathering, and the police seems more ready than last week.

IWJ Channel 5: http://ustre.am/usAQ

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Following the last week's huge crowd (17,000 said the Police, 150,000 said the organizers, 200,000 said some newspapers), I'm not sure about the turnout, as there are clearly some disagreements now among major "people of influence" - organizers, anti-nuclear activists, journalists - as I mentioned in my previous post.

Mr. Kouta Kinoshita, for one, is advising his followers not to go, after one of the key members of the organizers tweeted he would want the "Kinoshita-esque" element (and "Hayakawa-esque" element) removed from the protest. I don't know what this person meant, but he continues to call to people whose ideas are different from his to support the protest nonetheless. Kinoshita may have understandably over-reacted. (It is not pleasant to be singled out to be "excluded" when you have been tirelessly persuading people on the danger of radiation exposure since the nuclear accident, as Kinoshita has been.)

I see more tweets this week worrying about some type of "agent provocateur" incident happening this time.

But the protest is on, both in Tokyo and Osaka (in front of KEPCO headquarters), just like every Friday evening since March this year. Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ will be hiring a helicopter again, and dedicating all of their USTREAM channels to report on the protest.

From people at ".@TwitNoNukes":

Date: Friday, July 6, 2012
Time: from 6PM
Places:

Prime Minister's Official Residence [東京都千代田区永田町２丁目３−１　2-3-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, google map]

Kansai Electric Power Company headquarters [大阪市北区中之島3丁目6番16号　3-6-16 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka City, google map]

Please refrain from carrying political signs not related to "anti-nuclear".
Please follow the general guidance from the organizers.

The organizers warn that the nearest subway station, "Kokkai Gijido Mae" on Marunouchi Line and Chiyoda Line may be extremely crowded.

People who show up at KEPCO's headquarters in Osaka City have been steadily increasing in number. Last week, the organizers there said 2,200 people showed up, up 700 from the week before.

One of the people I follow on Twitter is a nuclear researcher in Shikoku, Japan. He made an interesting observation regarding the number of people at the protests, particularly in Tokyo in front of the PM Official Residence.

He said (I'm paraphrasing him), "It doesn't really matter exactly how many showed up. If they managed to convince the media that it was 45,000, or 150,000, or 200,000, that all it matters. These numbers will be reported, and these numbers will stay in people's memory. That's the whole point of "demonstration" - to pressure the authority into believing the opposition is much bigger than actually is, and people have succeeded."

If you're going, be careful, and please report in the comment section.

Independent journalist Ryusaku Takana does warn that the "tired old left" dreaming of riding the storm again like in 1960s are trying hard to usurp the movement and claim as their own, and he tells the protest participants not to be easily persuaded by their tactics.

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