AT LAST: DEMONSTRATORS' CONCERNS REACH TOKYO, AND TOKYO RUNS SCARED

On March 11, 2014, on the third anniversary of the initial explosions at Fukushima Daiichi, No Nukes Action Committee in San Francisco organized a nation-wide action in 10 U.S. cities, among them Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Most of these actions involved presenting a letter of concern  directly to the consulate or embassy in these cities. At the same time, No Nukes Action, in collaboration with Fukushima Response Bay Area held a demonstration at the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco followed by a die-in. During our previous 19 demonstrations, beginning in June of 2012 at the consulate, the consul had always been willing (and mostly very gracious) to meet us on the sidewalk in front of their offices, but on the third anniversary of the disaster, Consul Hayakawa categorically refused to meet with us or to accept delivery of our letter in person, advising the demonstration organizers that they could use “ordinary mail.” Perhaps, with the passage of the Secrets Preservation Act in December, 2013, and with our mass action involving 10 U.S. cities, the official consular offices have received orders from Tokyo. Perhaps it is safe to assume someone is running scared, a barometer that at last our concerns are being heard.

The text of the NoNukesAction Committee is below:

March 11, 2014, Day 1095 following the start of the global disaster at Fukushima-Daiichi

To: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Your Honor:

According to the Feb. 28, 2013 issue of the New York Times, your government announced that Japan’s nuclear plants are slated for re-start once “tougher” safety guidelines are put in place as recommended by the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority. Does the Nuclear Regulation Authority plan to issue tough guidelines to prevent the occurrence of earthquakes in the Japanese archipelago where the Philippine Sea Plate, the huge Pacific Plate, the North American Plate, and the Eurasian Plate all converge?

The Shimokita Peninsula where reprocessing plant Rokkasho is located is a most fragile formation which lay at the bottom of the sea as recently as 5,000 years ago, but Rokkasho was designed to withstand only 20% to 25% of the Tohoku quake’s magnitude.  An explosion at Rokkasho would expose people within a 100-kilometer radius to levels of radiation ten to one hundred times the lethal level, meaning instant death. Does the Nuclear Regulation Authority have plans to bring radiation victims back to life? Do its plans make provision for the eventual sacrifice of Japan?

Mrs. Masako Mori describes the Secrecy Law which passed December 7, 2013 as an effort to "protect the people's right to know.” But the law provides for up to ten years imprisonment for anyone who either inquires or reports anything about the status of your three meltdowns at Fukusima Daiichii, or what may be happening to the water table when the corium reaches it. It's an amazing law that can reveal the truth at the same time as concealing it!  Does the Japanese government have plans to conceal from observation by satellites the plumes and explosions which result?

Your plans to return evacuees to areas contaminated by 20 mSv within one year will save your government and TEPCO billions of yen.  Does your government have plans to allocate those monies for the treatment of the thyroid cancers, and other malignancies resulting from the relocation of your old people, your women and men, and your own children to the contaminated area?

Sincerely,

Cecile Pineda

Author of Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step

2550 Dana St. Berkeley, CA  94704

No Nukes Action Committee and S.F. Bay Area Residents