Japan's Chubu Electric Power Company started shutting down its nuclear power plant in Hamaoka, approximately 100 miles southwest of Tokyo, this week. On May 6th, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan made public his directive for the company to suspend its operation, with an announcement made just hours before an anti-nuclear power demonstration of about 10,000 people in Tokyo. Meanwhile, a boisterous crowd of protesters rallied in solidarity with their Japanese counterparts in front of the Japanese consulate in San Francisco.

Labor movement activists in Japan called the prime minister's move a "fraud" intended to "put the escalating anti-nuke movement to rest" and demanded a total shutdown of nuclear energy power throughout the country. The suspension of power from Hamaoka is likely to cause major power disruptions in an area which is home to Toyota Motor Corporation and other manufacturers, but protesters in both San Francisco and Tokyo insisted that safety must be the top priority.

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