As in New York, protesters use chance to attack wide list of issues from nuclear energy to trade
The Occupy Wall Street protests spreading across the United States landed in Tokyo on Saturday, as hundreds of people [including members of Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union] gathered to protest against corporate greed and social inequality.
In addition to decrying the widening wealth gap between the nation’s haves and have-nots, demonstrators spoke out on a variety of unrelated topics ranging from nuclear power to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a free-trade pact promoted by the U.S.
Marching behind a large “Occupy Tokyo” banner, about 300 protesters proceeded to the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the radiation-leaking Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. “Dissolve Tepco,” “Stop nuclear power plants,” they chanted.
The various signs, written in both Japanese and English, highlighted some of the issues apparently agitating the public.
Passers-by had mixed feelings about the protests.
“Although it would be good if (nuclear power plants) did not exist, it is impossible to make them disappear immediately,” said a 23-year-old employee from Kawasaki who was shopping in the area.
The man, who would only give his last name, Azuma, said one of the key issues that needs to be resolved is the cost of fully making the conversion from nuclear power to wind, thermal and other renewable forms of energy.
Another man from Saitama, who came to see what the protest was like, said, “We should consider” whether to hold onto nuclear power plants.
“Japan is peaceful since people can speak with various opinions,” said the man, 52, who declined to be named.
A separate Occupy Tokyo event was also held in the Roppongi district.