(UPDATED) Prime Minister Noda to Meet Friday Protest Organizers for 20 Minutes Today (August 22, 2012)

(UPDATE) Ooops I missed it while my PC crashed... From what's reported, it looks there was Naoto Kan in the meeting. Messrs. Kan and Noda let the organizers of Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes speak for almost the entire time, and in the end Mr. Noda made some remarks.

What's interesting is the entry in the Prime Minister's Office's website:

August 22: Former Prime Minister Kan to meet citizens' group and others

Nothing about PM Noda meeting the same people.

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I'm surprised that Prime Minister Noda bothered to keep the promise of meeting the "representatives" of anti-nuclear protests.

Select members of Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes will meet with the prime minister on August 22, 2012 from 2PM to 2:20PM, and they will hold a press conference from 3:30PM.

As if they still matter, but they seem to think so. Mr. Noda may not think so, but he will pretend they do and carry on a charade - after the meeting, he will claim he will have done all he can to persuade the other side, but alas we agree to disagree, I as the prime minister of Japan have to protect the citizens' way of living.

The Prime Minister's Office website is supposed to do a live netcast of the 20-minute meeting, here: http://www.kantei.go.jp/

There will be a protest outside the Prime Minister's Official Residence at the time of the meeting (IWJ Channel 5). IWJ's Channel 6 will cover the press conference by the organizers after the meeting, at 3:30PM.

The leadership election of the Democratic Party of Japan will be on September 21, by the way. Mr. Noda may not be the prime minister after that date, and the DPJ may not be the ruling party after the next election which is supposed to be held "soon".

Jiji Tsushin just reported that it was former-Prime Minister Kan who persuaded Prime Minister Noda to meet the organizers, or so said Shu Fujimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary, during the regular morning press conference.

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