We received a mail from Yoshihiko Ikegami today, who was one of our protagonists in our film. Yoshihiko Ikegami resigned from being editor-in-chief of the famous philosophical magazine ‘Gendai Shiso’ (Modern Thought) in 2010. The philosopher and writer Ikegami became active in the anti-nuclear movement in 2011, contributing to the public discourse by criticizing the government and mass media in Japan and publicizing essays on J-Fissures. Here is the letter he sent us:

What’s going on now?

You may be surprised to hear that out of 54 nuclear reactors in Japan, only 3 are now operational. It’s us who are stopping them, I must say. It’s planned that all the reactors will suspend operations in April. Though we cannot tell whether the authorities will try to resume the operations by then, we cannot wait for all the reactors being stopped.

Demonstrations take place every week everywhere in Japan. The turnout ranges from hundreds to ten thousand or twenty thousand. The protesters express themselves in various ways. Because the media don’t cover them you may think that demonstrations no longer occur, but that’s not the case at all. One (great one!) will take place on February 9. On March 11, marking the first anniversary massive demonstrations will take place. This movement never dies.

Radioactive materials are still detected everywhere. Geiger counters still sell well because everyone is busy measuring. Cesium was recently detected in milk powder. A citizen group which found it demanded the company that produced the contaminated milk powder suspends to sell it and then it succeeded. Everyone is struggling against nukes. Our fight goes on. Chances are, some people will get sick, so many of us are ready for the long struggle ahead. We are really committed.

The aftermath of 3.11 (2)

Posted: 21st January 2012 by Du Fuchs in Interview

Last week we started the series ‘The aftermath of 3.11’ on our blog, which we want to continue today with a letter we received from Junko Harada, a Japanese artist, owner of the gallery Roji to Hito (Streets & People), and of course an anti-nuclear activist. We asked her how she perceived last year’s events, and how things might develop in 2012. Read her answer here:

You asked me about how the Japanese anti-nuclear movement has gone since August. It is difficult for me to be precise because too many things have happened. I’m going to respond to your questions by simply talking about what I know. I could be wrong with the names I’m going to mention below, or could be wrong chronologically. But anyway, I try to refresh my memory.

Since you left Japan in August, there have been various anti-nuclear actions. As a demonstration, on September 11, a demo called “Genpatsu Yamero Demo,” or “Stop Nuclear Power Plants Demo”, which was led by Shiroto no Ran (Amateur’s revolt) – you are already familiar with this name – took place. Many people showed up, but the police’s brutality was harsher than ever before. The protesters couldn’t move in the way they wanted to. It was unusually tense, while the police over-regulated us, ordering us to keep a certain speed to walk, allowing us to walk in a very thin line, preventing bystanders on the sidewalk from joining us. Eleven people were arrested – unjustly, of course. It eventually became the last demonstration led by Shiroto no Ran in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

The aftermath of 3.11

Posted: 16th January 2012 by Du Fuchs in Interview

At the end of 2011, we contacted all of our protagonists of RADIOACTIVISTS again, and asked them about their thoughts about the 3.11 incident in 2011, as well as their thoughts on possible developments in 2012. We want to publish their replies on our blog, and today we will start with the interview of YASUO AKAI, a Japanese translator and musician, who became active in the anti-nuclear movement as well as an author of the blog The First Person Pronoun to Wear. Read Akai-sans answers here:

What changed for you this year?
Yasuo Akai: What this year left me may be a sense that anything can happen.
I wasn’t really interested in what was going on in Japan before 3.11, but, thanks to the nuclear disaster (and you!), I discovered that there’s such a thing as the Japanese protest culture. 

What do you think about developments in Japan?
Yasuo Akai: It’s difficult to generalize. Various surveys conducted by the major news outlets appear to show that more than 70 percent of Japanese people want those nuclear power plants to be abandoned in the future. In other words, the idea that nuclear power plants are evil have penetrated across the political spectrum. I on a daily basis have opportunities to talk with ‘redneck’ conservative people who are basically xenophobic and LDP (the Liberal Democratic Party… a conservative party which had ruled post-war Japan until a couple of years ago) supporters or more right wing since I still have to keep my part time job at construction sites. One of the workers tells me that he believes that only the LDP can stop those nuclear power plants therefore that we should vote for this party. Of course I don’t subscribe to such a view, but ironically what he says is in a way true – only when conservatives move a country can move. Read the rest of this entry »

While the Castor rolls through Germany and news about the still radioactively leaking Fukushima power plant spread over the world, people in Japan still continue to protest against the nuclear power policy. Two days ago, on December 3, 2011, a huge demonstration took over the streets of Japans capital Tokyo, the 2nd NO NUKES! ALL STAR DEMO. (click here for pictures)

Remember, the first NO NUKES! ALLSTAR DEMO, organized by a huge and daily growing network of anti-nuclear groups in Japan, took place on September 19, 2011. With more than 60.000 participants and famous people appealing to the crowd like the writer and Nobel prize-winner Kenzaburo Oe, it was the biggest demonstration with the most attention paid to it, even by Japanese mass media, so far since 3/11.

In the video, you can see the crowd marching through Shibuya, one of the biggest and consumeristic part of Tokyo. Read the rest of this entry »

RADIOACTIVISTS goes CAPITALs!

Posted: 27th November 2011 by clarissaliv in Announcement, Screening

After a sold out and successful world premiere in Frankfurt (a big “thank you” goes to Nippon Connection!) we are very happy to announce further RADIOACTIVISTS screenings:

December 8th RADIOACTIVISTS will be screened in Vienna, Austria as part of the festival this human world. It will be screened at 6 p.m. in Topkino.

We are also happy to announce our first Berlin-screening:

 

Flyer Berlinpremiere

 

It will take place Sunday December 11th, 6 p.m. in Moviemento cinema. We will be present for a Q&A-session after the film. This event is organized with the help and iniciative of BUND AK KLEE (Thank you so much!).

We hope we can soon announce more screenings!