BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18799928 SEQUENCE:18936648 CREATED:20170605T035600Z DESCRIPTION:6/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-Do Not Force The Families Of Fukushima Back and Stop The Restarting of Japanese Nuclear Plants\n\n6/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-out-\nSunday April 11, 2016 3:00 PM\nSan Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St./California St.\nSan Francisco\n\nThe people of Fukushima and Japan continued to be threatened by the ongoing contamination of Fukushima and the Abe government restarting of nuclear plants. The government continues to pressure Fukushima families and their children to return to Fukushima or lose their subsidies. These government demands is harming the health and mental conditions of the Fukushima refugees who do not want to return. The government which now controls Tokyo Electric Power Company continues to use thousands of contract workers to supposedly decontaminate the plant and the thousands of acres surrounding the plant. These workers do not have proper health and safety protection and the government uses the Yakuza to recruit day laborers and workers from other countries. They are also demanding that other prefectures or states “recycle” 16 million cubic meters of contaminated radioactive soil in construction projects throughout the country despite the danger of expanding the contamination of the entire population.\n\nThe Japanese people continue to oppose the restarting of the nuclear plants but the government continues to push the nuclear agenda. \nAt the same time the Abe government passed a secrecy act and is now trying to push through a “conspiracy law” that can and will be used to charge people for alleged crimes. Under this law opponents of nuclear power plants could be charged with illegal activity. Already anti-nuclear activists like Osaka Professor Shimoji and others have been arrested for handing out flyers against the burning of nuclear waste in the Osaka region.\n\nWe call for the right of the families from Fukushima to live outside this contaminated area and be compensated by TEPCO and the government. We also call for the end of the restarting of Japanese nuclear plants in other parts of the country and an end to the growing move toward repressive measures like the “secrecy act” and the “anti-conspiracy bill”. This bill is opposed by the UN Rapporteur who has challenged the increasing repression and intimidation of journalists and the democratic rights of the people of Japan.\n\nWe all on to people to join us this coming May 11, 2017 at 3:00 PM at 275 Battery St. near California at the Japanese Consulate. Make your voice heard.\n\nSpeak Out and Rally initiated by\nNo Nukes Action Committee\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n\nAbe Madness-Japan Ministry shows plan to recycle radioactive soil in Fukushima\n"The government had a difficult time finding municipalities willing to take in the radioactive soil on an interim basis. And safety concerns have already been raised about the ministry’s plan to recycle the radioactive soil.”\n\nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201705180051.html\nBy MASATOSHI TODA/ Staff Writer\nMay 18, 2017 at 19:00 JSare\n\nThe Environment Ministry demonstrates an experiment on recycling contaminated soil, shown in black in the center, in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 17. (Masatoshi Toda)\nMINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--In an apparent attempt to quell fears, the Environment Ministry on May 17 showed how it will recycle radioactive soil in construction projects to reduce the growing piles of widely abhorred contaminated debris.\n\nIn the demonstration to media representatives here, the ministry measured radioactivity levels of bags of soil collected in decontamination work around the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and sorted the earth from other garbage.\n\nUsing soil with readings up to 3,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, the ministry plans to create a 5-meter-tall mound measuring 20 meters by 80 meters. Such mounds could be used, for example, as foundations for seawalls and roads in Fukushima Prefecture and elsewhere.\n\nTesting of the methods started on April 24.\n\nAfter confirming the safety, the ministry wants to promote the use of the recycled soil.\n\nRadioactive debris from the cleanup around the nuclear plant will be stored at interim facilities to be built in Futaba and Okuma, the two towns that host the nuclear plant. The government seeks to move the contaminated debris outside the prefecture for final disposal by 2045.\n\nThe government had a difficult time finding municipalities willing to take in the radioactive soil on an interim basis. And safety concerns have already been raised about the ministry’s plan to recycle the radioactive soil.\n\nThe cleanup has already collected about 16 million cubic meters of contaminated soil.\n\nProtests over steamrolling of Japan Abe’s 'anti-conspiracy bill' erupt nationwide\n\nhttp://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170520/p2a/00m/0na/012000c\nMay 20, 2017 (Mainichi Japan)\nJapanese version\n\nProtestors gather near the National Diet Building, front, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward after the forced passage of the so-called anti-conspiracy bill in the House of Representatives Committee on Judicial Affairs, on May 19, 2017. (Mainichi)\nProtests erupted across Japan on the evening of May 19 in response to the forced passage of the so-called anti-conspiracy bill in the House of Representatives Committee on Judicial Affairs that afternoon.\n\n【In Photos】Protesters rally across Japan against 'anti-conspiracy' bill\n【Related】Editorial: We oppose passage of 'anti-conspiracy' bill in current form\n【Related】The gov't must win the public's trust, even if means taking the long route\n【Related】'Anti-conspiracy' bill steamrolled through lower house committee\nIn the capital, protesters gathered at the National Diet Building. The demonstrations were led by the pro-constitutionalism multipartisan legislators' group Rikken Forum and the citizens' group Anti-War Committee of 1000, with participants criticizing the bill as an attempt to silence voices that challenge the government.\n\n"If the bill is passed, wiretapping and other surveillance methods will change and it makes me uneasy. Using numbers like that to push through a vote is just terrible," said Issei Kikuchi, a 63-year-old participant from Saitama Prefecture.\n\n\nPeople rally against the "anti-conspiracy" bill in front of the Diet building in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, raising signs reading "No to the anti-conspiracy bill!!" and, "Stop!! Prime Minister Abe's constitutional revision," at 7:16 p.m. on May 19, 2017. (Mainichi)\nMore groups joined the demonstrations in front of the Diet as the night went on, with protestors waving yellow placards emblazoned with the words "No to the anti-conspiracy bill" and chanting "We firmly denounce the steamrolling of the bill in the lower house committee!" Shiori Akasaka, 27, of Chiba Prefecture said, "I feel as though this bill can be interpreted to make me a target of investigation for just participating in these protests. I want the government to clearly explain the bill in the House of Councillors."\n\nProtests were also held in three major cities in the prefectures of Aichi, Gifu, and Mie. In Nagoya, roughly 1,000 lawyers, scholars and other protesters gathered on a major thoroughfare in the city's Naka Ward for a demonstration organized by a joint action group advocating an end to the Abe Cabinet pushing through legislation. Participants held signs and banners that read "the anti-conspiracy bill must be rejected!" and "Don't lie about it being counterterrorism!"\n\nA 53-year-old day care worker from the city's Atsuta Ward said, "I'm uneasy that even gathering together as citizens for the improvement of society will become illegal under the new law. I will not be defeated, and I will keep raising my voice against this bill."\n\n\nDemonstrators are seen parading down a street in Nagoya's Naka Ward against the "anti-conspiracy bill" shortly past 7 p.m. on May 19, 2017. Some of the signs raised by participants read, "Don't peek into citizens' lives!" (Mainichi)\nIn the city of Gifu in the neighboring prefecture, roughly 300 residents participated in a protest organized by Sogakari, a group backing the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 which has also run an ongoing campaign against security legislation passed in 2015. "There wasn't enough debate," Gifu resident Masami Murase, 83, argued. "It's terrifying that the government's watch over citizens will get stronger."\n\nIn Tsu, Mie Prefecture, two groups advocating against revision of the Constitution gathered in the center of the city, warning that "surveillance into every corner of the lives of citizens will become widespread." Shigehiko Kimura, a 55-year-old member of a group from the nearby city of Kameyama, stated, "Using force of numbers to pass a law with contents that citizens hardly understand is a problem. I will continue to rally for the repeal of the bill."\n\nThe protests spread to the farthest reaches of the country in Hokkaido and Okinawa. Shortly after the forced passing of the bill in the lower house committee, student activist group Hokkaido Peace Action Forum held a protest in Odori Park in Sapporo's Chuo Ward which attracted some 750 participants.\n\n\nPeople march down a street in protest against the "anti-conspiracy" bill in Nagoya's Naka Ward shortly before 7:30 p.m. on May 19, 2017. (Mainichi)\nConstitutional activist group Hokkaido Kenpo Kyodo Center representative Koichi Kurosawa called out, "The anti-conspiracy bill is a movement towards wartime laws and we must continue to raise our voices so that not even one line of our Constitution can be changed!" The protest made its way to the front of JR Sapporo Station, with participants chanting "We don't need a law that limits free speech!" and "Quickly repeal the anti-conspiracy bill!"\n\nOn the opposite end of the nation in Okinawa Prefecture, the passage of the bill was felt strongly by those opposing the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the city of Ginowan to Henoko, in the prefectural city of Nago. "It's an egregious law meant to suppress the movement in Okinawa against U.S. military bases," said Hiroshi Ashitomi, 70, co-head of an anti-base council. "The only thing to do is repeal it."\n\n\nPeople parade down a street in Sapporo's Chuo Ward against the "anti-conspiracy" bill at around 6:40 p.m. on May 19, 2017. (Mainichi)\nThe government began land reclamation work in the sea off Henoko on April 25. Ashitomi and others from the group silently protest the relocation of the base by sitting in front of U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab or approaching the construction site using canoes on a daily basis. In the course of the protests, Okinawa Peace Action Center leader Hiroji Yamashiro, 64, was arrested on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business and detained for roughly five months.\n\n"All we can do is peacefully protest the relocation of the base, but it's beyond my imagination how authorities plan to implement the 'anti-conspiracy bill' on us," Ashitomi said.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/06/04/18799928.php SUMMARY:SF Japan Consulate Speak-Do Not Force The Families Of Fukushima Back & Stop NUKE Restarts LOCATION:Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St. near California\nSan Francisco, CA URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/06/04/18799928.php DTSTART:20170611T220000Z DTEND:20170611T230000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR