The Daily Beast
August 19, 2012
A broad coalition of protesters opposes the re-opening of nuclear power plants in Japan, a country unaccustomed to social protest, writes Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky.
Kazuhiro Nogi, AFP / Getty Images
It’s hard to ignore more than 20,000 anti-nuclear protesters at your front door. It’s even harder in a country like Japan, where more often than not repressive tradition and political apathy combine to stifle social protest. So after Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s unpopular prime minister, found his home surrounded by thousands of protesters for weeks on end, he finally got the message.
Last week the prime minister agreed, albeit reluctantly, to meet with representatives of Japan’s increasingly vocal and influential citizens network “Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes” (MCAN).
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