Monday, April 30, 2012

Buddhist Monks Sit-in, Calling Christians to Join Them; Ultra-Right Joined by Ultra-Left in Hunger Strike Against Nuclear Power Plants

Buddhist monks in Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku are staging the sit-ins to protest against the prospect of restarting Ikata Nuclear Power Plant, which sits just outside the largest active fault in Japan (Median Tectonic Line) and part of the plant is built on the landfill. The monks are calling out to Christian churches to join them in the protest.

From Ehime Shinbun (4/29/2012):

宗教関係者が「伊方反対」の座り込み 松山

Religious leaders staged sit-in against the restart of Itaka Nuke Plant in Matsuyama

四国電力伊方原発(伊方町)の再稼働に反対する県内の宗教関係者らが28日、松山市湊町5丁目の坊っちゃん広場で座り込みを始めた。同日は県内の僧侶や信者ら約25人が宗派を超えて集まり、1時間にわたり「原発を止めよう」などと書かれたのぼりを掲げて読経をした。

Religious leaders in the prefecture [Ehime] against the restart of Ikata Nuclear Power Plant operated by Shikoku Electric (in Ikata-cho) started the sit-in in a town square in Matsuyama City on April 28. About 25 people including Buddhist monks and the followers across the different sects gathered there, and chanted the Buddhist scriptures for an hour with the banners that said "Stop nuclear power plants".

座り込みは市内の住職ら7人が2011年9月に結成した「フクシマの子供を守り原発を止める仏教者の会」が実施。原発に反対する宗教関係者の輪を広げようと県内300以上の仏教寺院やキリスト教会に呼び掛けている。

The sit-in was carried out by "Buddhists for protecting children in Fukushima and stopping nuclear power plants" that was formed in September 2011 by 7 people including the chief priests of Buddhist temples in the city. The group is calling to more than 300 Buddhist temples and Christian churches in the prefecture to join them in the effort to oppose nuclear plants.

呼び掛け人の一人で観音寺(同市三番町1丁目)の垂水正和住職(60)は「原発の再稼働は命の問題であることを多くの人に知ってもらいたい」と話していた。

One of the members of the group, chief priest of Kannon Temple, said "Restart of the nuclear plant is a matter of life, and I would like more people to know that."

座り込みは5月4日までの午後5時から1時間。

Sit-ins will continue until May 4, from 5PM for one hour.


And independent journalist Ryusaku Tanaka reports that two men are doing the hunger strike to protest against the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence. One is a 26-year-old ultra-right nationalist, the other is a 40-year old ultra-left Communist who was a card-carrying member of the Japan Communist Party until 4 days ago when he left the party to carry out the hunger strike.

Tanaka reports that 26-year-old Yujiro Yamaguchi wants to stop the restart of Ooi Nuke Plant:

「再稼働が我慢ならないんですよ」と率直な答えが返ってきた。「政府は“安全だ”と言ってるが、それはあり得ない。政治家の発言がコロコロ変わる。そんなことより補償をちゃんとしろよ」

"I can't allow the restart. The government says it is "safe", but that's impossible. The politicians change their stories too often. They should compensate the victims [of the Fukushima nuclear accident] first."



40-year-old  Yasushi Seshita (it could be one of 6 different reading of the same character sets), when asked by Tanaka if he had any compunction against doing the hunger strike with the ultra-right nationalist, said:

 「国を良くするのに右も左もない」

"There is no right or left to make this country better."


Tanaka reports that Seshita has received a tweet from the leader of a ultra-right group expressing worry about his health. Seshita is happy that they are united in the opposition.

(Photos by Ryusaku Tanaka)

15 comments:

Darth3/11 said...

With the moral authority of Buddhist monks, hunger strikes by ultra right and left tweeting each other, not "kizuna" but "「「国を良くするのに右も左もない」", let's hope this is just the start of Japanese people (and everyone living here) protesting.

Will the media cover this??? Or will they just turn a blind eye as their master's bid them???

Greyhawk said...

The only people who support nuclear power are those who have large amounts of money invested in it.

Anonymous said...

We also have the Zen monks in Eihei-ji, from Fukui Prefecture, which organized anti-nuclear symposiums last summer. They have 14 reactors in their region, so it's understandable.

Anonymous said...

I recall a farmer, just after the meltdown, telling me that nuclear power is evil.

Farmers rely on the rain to water the soil where they plant the seeds, that grow into the food that has sustained mankind since the beginning of civilization. This basic formula - rain, soil, seed, and the farmer's work - are what makes human life possible.

In the days after the meltdown, the farmer, and many of us, changed our whole view of rain. It was no longer a welcome friend. It was instead an unstoppable force that would poison our soil for decades, centuries, or longer.

Any technology of man which turns life-giving rain into something that poisons the life-giving soil, and mutates the DNA of the life-giving seed deserves a label no less extreme than EVIL, EVIL at the very top of anybody's scale.

Once you recognize nuclear power for what it is, the appropriate remedy is to seek divine strentgh to cast out this demon. I'm not an advocate of Buddism, but the monks are perhaps on the right track. I'd also like to see a Catholic priest perform an exorcism as well.

Pray for us all. Cast out from Japan the evil that is nuclear power.

Anonymous said...

AMEN to that! and let's cast the EVIL of nuclear power out of the entire world!

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

The ocean may kill but would you ask God to cast the ocean out of the world?

A car accident may kill but would you ask God to cast all cars into the sea?

A child may kill but would you ask God to kill all children?

So, it is with nuclear power. It can kill but it can save more lives than it will ever kill.
It is the evil of mismanagement that is your foe.

And so as a Christian I do pray for Japan and the United States and for every country in the world and all of our children that our common foe will know defeat.
In Christ's name,
Amen

Godspeed You Godspeed Me

Anonymous said...

KSB: I pray for you also. I pray that you will find the wisdom to recognize that nuclear power is nothing less than evil.

Were you in Japan, in the rain, after Fukushima? If not, you probably cannot imagine the deep sense of dread and helplessness we felt at those times. It was astonishing.

The ocean may kill, but it is part of nature that mankind has learned to live with. It also provides us with food and regulates the temperature of our planet. It is part of the world that God made for us.

Car accidents may kill also. And while I would certainly entertain a vote on casting them all into the sea (Japan has a great public transport system), a car accident does not leave the accident scene contaminated for decades or centuries or longer. Life can come back.

A child who kills may or may not be evil. In some cases the church will cast the demon out of the child (but not kill the child). And we are all children of God afterall. We will sin. We will seek forgiveness. We will forgive. And we will be forgiven.

But nuclear power is different. Nuclear power creates extremely dangerous radionuclides that are not found in our natural environment. It is a creation of man. And man attempts to manage it, but regularly fails to do so completely. Nuclear power, not of nature, is a demon that is beyond our human ability to manage completely.

For an excellent explanation, please read the very articulate editorial at http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4828

I hope you will think hard on this. I will be praying for you. You are obviously a caring person; we need you beside us in this struggle. I pray that you will seek and find truth.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Anon @2:09 Thank you for your kind words. I understand how you feel. I felt this same way once. After investigating the nuclear industry I know that it can be done safely. It is only greed that prevents it. This is a comment I just posted somewhere else but it has a good link to a video that is good to watch and explains a little better:

http://enenews.com/gundersen-reveals-shut-down-nuclear-plants-like-capitalist-stop-govt-subsidies-stop-new-nukes-price-high-wall-street-wont-buy-video

While trying to make preparation for survival of climate change, the globe must address a common mismanagement foe: GREED. I am pro-nuclear today because of climate change. When some one asked me a few years ago what I thought of nuclear energy, I told them only if it’s made on the Moon.

This video provides some great information but it also clouds some issues. If you don’t have time to watch the entire video I most recommend the last 15 minutes.

The number one biggest problem with nuclear energy is the public’s robbery when it comes to reactor construction and all nuclear components maintenance wise. If you put the word “nuclear” on anything all of a sudden normal prices are greedily multiplied 100 fold and in some cases much worse. With so much money being basically legally robbed from the public at the start of construction there are little to not funds left to do the important work of funding safety and follow up. This same problem with greed occurs every where in the world from charity work in orphanages to kick backs in business to bounties in sports. It has to stop.

We only have so much time to prepare. It is illogical to suggest counting on solar or wind power when confronting climate change. In a dream world they would be perfect options but we are not in Kansas anymore when it comes to our global condition.

God warned man that in the end, He will destroy the world with fire. The key words there being that “He” would do it and not the human race. WE made this problem and we have to fix it and most importantly we have to survive it. You can not conserve energy if you are fighting subzero temperatures in a location where you have never had subzero temperatures before and you can not conserve energy if you are fighting extreme heat where you have never confronted a heat wave before.

http://enenews.com/gundersen-reveals-shut-down-nuclear-plants-like-capitalist-stop-govt-subsidies-stop-new-nukes-price-high-wall-street-wont-buy-video

Anonymous said...

KSB - Yes, I saw that video. I know you've studied this a lot, and the fact that you changed your mind on this issue once before gives me hope that you will remain open to changing it again.

First, be careful who you trust for your information. Many in the nuclear industry would have you believe that the only way you can cover baseload is nuclear or fossil fuel.

This is simply not true. Mark Jacobson of Stanford University has demonstrated that with new smart grid technology, solar, wind and hydro could handle California's baseload and variable energy requirements today - without any new, uninvented technologies. All of this is possible today.

As someone who has lived through the rape of Japan by the Fukushima debacle, I for one would rather bet my childrens' future on Mark's plan than on the nuclear option. I know the nuclear path leads to mass death. Mark's plan gives hope. I think we should try Mark's path and see where it takes us.

I have no reason to doubt Mark's integrity or truthfulness on this matter. I do, however, have great doubt about reassurances and claims from the nuclear industry, where I have seen evidence of fraud, accident cover-ups, gross incompetence, and an unwillingness to compensate victims for externalities they create. The nuclear industry pundits really lack any credibility with me.

Please pray on it.

And please consider how the following reflect on the nuclear industry's stellar reputation to date:
Luke 6:44
Matthew 12:33
Samuel 24:13
Proverbs 20:11
Matthew 7:20

Please pray on this.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Luke 17:10

Anonymous said...

Peace be with you KSB.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Thank you Anon.

Godspeed You. Godspeed me.

Anonymous said...

"So, it is with nuclear power. It can kill but it can save more lives than it will ever kill.
It is the evil of mismanagement that is your foe."

Hello? So it is inherently safe, but just isn't managed properly? Blame human error, otherwise it would be safe, saving the climate, bring peace to the world etc.

Where have I heard all this before?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you didn't hear it here:

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4828

Anonymous said...

Nuclear power managed properly! An oxymoron if ever there was one.
How many nuclear regulator bodies are there to date? Any of them worth shit? KSB will straighten out the nuke industry once she gets elected...

And since we are apparently having a prayer meet, Lord but I'm sick of reading Karen Sherry Brackett's verbal diarrhea. Amen.

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