＞Letter by FoE Malaysia
＞Letter by FoE Sri Lanka
＞Letter by FoE Austria
＞Letter by FoE France (english version)
＞Letter by FoE New Zealand
June 11, 2012
The Japanese Prime Minister Noda has announced his decision to order the restart two nuclear reactors in the town of Ohi in the prefecture of Fukui in Western Japan. He also claimed that nuclear energy will remain an important source of energy for Japan also in the future, thereby reconfirming Japans nuclear energy policy.
Despite all our efforts, despite the strong resistance in the region of Western Japan surrounding Ohi, and despite the fact that a majority of the Japanese people is against nuclear power, the Japanese government is bowing to pressures of the nuclear lobby in Japan. We have tried hard on our own, but now we believe that coordinated international pressure on the Japan government is essential to bring on real and substantial change. We believe that the Japanese government and the Japanese public will react very sensitively to international pressure, so we wish to ask you for your support to initiate and coordinate international protest against the Japanese government.
Specifically we suggest the following action within the following days (preferably on Wednesday to Friday this week / June 13~15, 2012):
1. Please assemble in front of the Japanese embassies in your capital to voice your protest against the decision and policy of Prime Minister Noda
2. Please try to submit a letter of protest -addressed to Prime Minister Noda- to the Japanese Ambassador in your country and request the Japanese Ambassador to forward this letter of protest to the Japanese Prime Minister
3. Please try to seek coverage of this action by your local and international media, especially Japanese media, as well as on the Internet
4. Please give us notice about your planned action, so we can organize a press event in Japan to reinforce your message to the Japanese government.
Please note that we wish these protests to be absolutely civil and peaceful, and to fully observe the sovereign rights of the Japanese embassies abroad.
A draft letter of protest is as below, so you just need to sign it.
Letter of Protest
“Shame on you, Mr. Noda – listen to your people and act responsibly – Don’t restart Ohi reactors – Come up with a responsible energy policy based on conservation and renewable energy”
To: Mr. Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister of Japan
We protest your decision to restart two nuclear power reactors in the town of Ohi in Fukui Prefecture. We ask you to reconsider and instead impose a moratorium on nuclear power in Japan. We ask you to come up with a responsible energy policy for a Japan without nuclear power and based on energy conservation and renewable energies.
Here are our reasons:
1. Your decision is undemocratic. The Japanese public is not supporting you. Many members and parliamentarians of your own party are not standing with you.
2.The full truth about the meltdown of the three reactors in Fukushima has not been established, yet.
3.The prevailing, temporary safety standards that have been applied by the stress tests and that you referred to when you declared the Ohi reactors to be safe, are insufficient. At present, essential safety measures that are required by the stress tests have not yet been implemented in Ohi. It is not verified whether the reactors can be shut down safely if a serious earthquake were to occur.
4.Any new regime of safety standards must be formulated and overseen by a truly independent Nuclear Safety Agency. This agency has not yet been established, and parliamentary procedures have just been started.
5.The sharp increase in seismic activities in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami catastrophe of March 11 is alarming. The fact that there are active fault lines in the vicinity of the Ohi reactors, and perhaps even under the site is a major reason of concern.
You may reject this letter as an outside interference into the internal affairs of Japan. However, we know since Chernobyl and Fukushima that the fallout of nuclear accidents does not know national borders, but severely impacts the global environment and bears unknown risks to the health of all mankind. We believe it is our moral obligations to voice our concerns to you.
We also know that our concerns are shared by many people in your country and that a majority of your people does not agree with you. We have high respect for the people of Japan, for their sense of community and service in times of great harm. We believe in their creativity and strong will to overcome these difficult times, and to rebuild a Japan without nuclear power.
We, therefore, ask you to kindly reconsider the restart of the Ohi reactors and to declare a moratorium on nuclear power. We ask you to come up with a responsible energy policy for a Japan without nuclear power based on energy conservation and renewable energies.
Yours sincerely,
Date:
Signature:
We thank you for your support.
Hideyuki BAN, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC)
Kanna MITSUTA, FoE Japan
Aileen Mioko SMITH, Green Action
Daisuke SATO, No Nukes Asia Forum
Akira KAWASAKI, Peace Boat
Kaori IZUMI, Shut Tomari