Anti-nuclear parade

I also came across an anti-nuclear parade yesterday; coming shortly after the 3/11 moment of silence, this was very loud and vocal, particularly by Japanese standards.

It's rare for me to see the Japanese participate in demonstrations or rallies of this kind. Generally such activities are limited to a few people protesting in small numbers or to the Nationalist political party, the latter of which tends to get lots of eye-rolls for their loud speeches and music piped through the speakers of their black vans.

However, the concerns raised by the recent nuclear disasters in Fukushima has brought many together to express their fears and worries not just of the existing situation/cleanup efforts, but also of their concerns and hopes for the future.

I understand that there has to be a bit of a juggling act on the part of the government – it's not easy or even feasible to instantly shut down all the nuclear reactors, for then where will electricity come from?

Nonetheless, I do hope that the government will ramp up efforts to introduce cleaner and safer forms of energy as quickly as possible, and I applaud these protesters for stepping up and doing their best to raise awareness because we all know how "quickly" (read, extremely slowly or not all) most politicians will move if people do not speak up.

In album Tokyo anti-nuclear parade – March 11, 2012 (25 photos)