TOKYO. - Thousands of people gather on Monday all around Japan protesting the reopening of the nation's nuclear reactors. The antinuclear rallying in the nation's capital, Tokyo, is considered the country's largest anti-nuclear demonstrations ever.While some reports claim there are as many as 170,000 people gathered in protests, police reports put the number at 75,000.
Last month, the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda with the support of his government decided to restart Japan's nuclear reactor. He has initiated the opening of two nuclear reactors at the Oi plant in Western Japan.
Demonstrators are bearing signs and banner specifically calling out to the prime minster such as "Noda we are anger," according to the New York Times.
"It's very late, but at last it is starting...Japanese people historically have not been used to standing up for themselves, we have been a people that just put up with things. . . . Finally that is changing," journalist Santoshi Kamata told the Washington Post.
The New York Times cites a poll that indicates Japanese people remain divided on the nations nuclear power policies, some are in favor of the complete abandonment of the form of energy, while the majority are in favor of use of nuclear energy, but with rigid regulations and increased safety precautions.
The government was held largely responsible for the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, which Washington Post's Chico Harlan calls a "profoundly man-made disaster." Although the plant operator Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) claimed that the explosion was no way detectable, the people held the company as well as the government equally liable for the incident and its aftermath.
