Emerging Oceanic Struggles for No-Nukes in Japan

The Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with an international conference on September 3, 2023. Before the conference, PARC organized a field trip and a symposium in Fukushima. We were invited to participate, which allowed us to learn about the Japanese sustained antiwar and antinuclear grassroots peace movements since 1945. In 1973, Muto Ichiyo 武藤一羊, a prominent social activist, founded PARC at the age of 42, together with three comrades. PARC conducted research, organized lectures, designed courses, and published reports on Asian peoples’ struggles. Later, Muto initiated and promoted the “People’s Plan for the 21st Century” (PP21). At 92 years old, Muto, the sole surviving founder of PARC, traveled from Yokohama to Tokyo by train to attend the fiftieth anniversary celebration event. We have known Muto for over thirty years and have collaborated extensively with him on various projects.

On April 13, 2024, we were invited by PARC to join the webinar “Don’t Contaminate the Oceans with Radioactivity!: International Forum on Voices of People in Fukushima Who Coexist with the Ocean,” which was organized by the Don’t Contaminate the Oceans Anymore! Citizens’ Council and supported by the Friends of the Earth Japan, Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, and No-Nukes Asia Forum Japan. It invited the audience to listen to the voices of the people of Fukushima and expand solidarity with people across the globe.⁴

There were three speakers. Attorney Yuichi Kaido 海渡雄一 presented on the injunctive lawsuits regarding the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated contaminated water. The court hearings had started the month prior. Shuichi Kawashima 川岛秀一, a folklorist, highlighted the beauty of coexisting with the ocean. Haruo Ono 小野春雄, a fisherman from Fukushima, shared his painful experiences before and after the tragedy, his strong opposition to the dumping of nuclear wastewater, and his cultural belief in paying respects to the living ocean.

Yuichi explained the legal team’s inability to file the lawsuit before the dumping of nuclear waste on August 24, 2023. They had spent two years discussing their options with residents and exploring the possibility of a lawsuit. The team thought that to be accepted in court as legitimate cases fisherfolk and other people in the fishing industry needed to be the plaintiffs. The government has adopted a policy of offering large payments to fisherfolk to compensate for reputational damage. Therefore, it was very difficult to find potential plaintiffs in the fishing industry in Fukushima.

A turning point happened in July 2023, when some in the fishing industry finally agreed to become plaintiffs. Since then, the lawsuit has become a joint struggle of Japanese fisherfolk and other affected people against the large-scale environmental contamination by the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The plaintiffs and legal team decided that the symbolic color of this lawsuit would be “blue,” to remind people of the ocean’s color.

On September 8, 2023, 151 individuals, including fisherfolk from Fukushima, filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and TEPCO in the Fukushima District Court, demanding a halt to the release of radioactive water. The plaintiff group, led by a well-known lawyer, Tsuguo Hirota 広田次男, continued to grow. The legal team has expanded from twenty to thirty members, and the number of plaintiffs in the lawsuit increased to 363. There have now been more than thirty lawsuits filed in Japan against the government and TEPCO, with a total of around thirteen thousand plaintiffs.

On December 26, 2023, the Tokyo High Court ruled that TEPCO alone had to pay a total of ¥23.5 million ($165,000) to forty-four of the forty-seven plaintiffs, waiving the government’s responsibility. The ruling backpedaled from an earlier decision in March 2018, when the Tokyo District Court held both the government and TEPCO accountable for the disaster, ordering both to pay ¥59 million ($414,400) in damages.

Ono is one of the plaintiffs who took part in the hearings at the Fukushima District Court. He was born in 1952 in Shinchi-machi, Fukushima Prefecture. After graduating from Shoei Junior High School, he began working on his family’s fishing boat at the age of 15, and has been working for fifty-seven years. Currently, he is the owner and operator of the boat Kan-non Maru, with his son as the captain. He served as chairman of the Shinchi-machi Shipowners’ Association before and after the 2011 nuclear disaster. He lost his brother in the tragedy. In the first public hearing on March 4, 2024, Ono made a powerful statement:

We fishermen receive income from the sea’s natural blessings and regard the sea with reverence beyond human understanding, believing that the treasure of the sea should be passed down from the past to the present and the future. Before the disaster, we were able to fish six days a week. Not being able to fish freely means that our workplaces have been taken away from us, which is unbearable. We don’t know when the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning will be completed. Compensation may be terminated. Fishing may no longer be sustainable. I try to tell myself I’m getting old, but when I think about my sons who have taken over the fishing business, I am still anxious. All members of the Fisheries Cooperative are against ocean dumping. If we allow ocean dumping, we will surely receive retribution from nature. We, fishermen, do not want to contaminate the ocean. What we fishermen are asking for is to keep the ocean clean, to be free from radioactive contamination, to finish the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning safely as soon as possible, to return to full-scale fishery operations, and to continue fishing for generations to come.⁵

As plaintiffs in the case, Ono and other fishermen are fighting for legal justice in the long process of lawsuits. Their behavior also signifies a turning point in the antinuclear grassroots movement, demonstrating that there are emerging ocean struggles for no-nukes not only in Japan, but also in the Pacific Ocean region, and even in the world. As radioactive water is flowing into the oceans, people affected are acting in a growing network in order to fight together. The common ground of solidarity is built on reverence for the ocean. The ocean is not a trash can, but a shrine.

Discharging Nuclear-Contaminated Water

The Fukushima catastrophe casts a long shadow over the nuclear future. On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, triggering a tsunami that flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with a fourteen-meter-high wave. Fuel rods began to melt in the reactors that had lost cooling due to the power outage. The removal of nuclear fuel rods from damaged reactor buildings still has not started in two heavily damaged reactors, hence the need for continued cooling by water over the exposed nuclear fuel debris. The nuclear-contaminated water has accumulated to 1.3 million tons and continues to be produced at the rate of 100 tons per day. According to Naoaki Shibasaki of Fukushima University, rainwater and groundwater together account for about 80 percent of the radioactive water.

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Japanese government set up a subcommittee composed of government officials and experts to discuss the options for the disposal of the increasing amount of radioactive water. In 2015, the Japanese government and TEPCO explicitly promised the Japanese fishing industry that it would not arbitrarily dispose of nuclear-contaminated water without the approval of stakeholders. In 2016, the committee offered six options to be discussed in three years.

The first option was to discharge the nuclear effluent into the ocean after diluting or separating the radioactive material, with an estimated cost of ¥3.4 billion (approximately $24 million). The second was steam discharge, wherein nuclear effluent would be vaporized and discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe, with an estimated cost of ¥34.9 billion (approximately $238 million). The third was mixing nuclear effluent with cement and other materials into a solid and burying it in the ground, with an estimated cost of ¥243.1 billion ($1.65 billion). The fourth was injecting the nuclear effluent into the ground structure at a depth of about 2,500 meters, with an estimated cost of at least ¥18 billion (approximately $122 million). The fifth was to electrolyze the nuclear effluent and release the resulting hydrogen into the atmosphere, with an estimated cost of ¥100 billion (approximately $680 million). The final option was long-term storage of nuclear wastewater on land by building new storage tanks and cement curing.

In February 2020, the subcommittee submitted a report to the Japanese government, choosing the so-called “most feasible” option: discharging “the ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) water” into the sea, which means “wastewater containing radioactive substances from the Fukushima Daiichi accident will be purified [sic] and treated so that radioactive substances except tritium will be [reduced] to a level below the regulatory level.”⁶ In April 2021, the Japanese government announced that it planned to discharge the ALPS-“treated” water into the sea over about thirty years. In July 2023, the United Nations and the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), greenlit the Japanese government’s cheapest option of dumping the 1.3 million tons of radioactive water from giant tanks into the sea.

On August 21, 2023, the National Federation of Fisheries Associations of Japan reiterated its opposition to the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean without the agreement of the Japanese people. On the following day, August 22, the Japanese government announced that it had decided to start the discharge of Fukushima’s ALPS water on August 24. On the same day, TEPCO announced its goal of discharging 31,200 tons of ALPS water in 2023.

On August 24, the Japanese government officially initiated the first phase of the three-decade plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, despite strong opposition from the majority of Japanese people, in addition to neighboring Asian countries such as China, South Korea, Russia, Thailand, as well as Fiji and other Pacific Island nations.

By the end of 2024, TEPCO had released ten rounds, or a total of about 78,200 tons of radioactive wastewater, into the ocean.

The Japan Broadcasting Corporation reported that 7,800 tons is equivalent to the volume of ten tanks of radioactive water.⁷ After the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe, more than one thousand tanks had been built. In other words, ten rounds of discharge were emptied from only seventy-eight tanks. The dilemma is that while some tanks are being emptied by discharging the contaminated water into the ocean, as long as the molten nuclear fuel rods are not removed, more contaminated water continues to be produced every day.

Moreover, according to TEPCO’s figures, 450,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste will be generated by the removal of nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi plant and the demolition of surrounding buildings, and another 805,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste will be generated by the scrapping of materials over the next ten years. TEPCO estimated that the dismantling of all four nuclear reactors will take more than forty years.

The non-removal of tritium in ALPS water constitutes a radiation danger in the long term to human health and the environment. In his book, Exploring Tritium Dangers: Health and Ecosystem Risks of Internally Incorporated Radionuclides, Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear engineer and the president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, remarks that “tritium was a radionuclide that should be taken very seriously. However, in practice, it had been treated rather cavalierly by the radiation establishment as a radiation danger even though it is radioactive water, makes food radioactive, crosses the placenta, and is a ubiquitous pollutant from both nuclear power and nuclear weapons.”⁸

On March 10, 2024, the day before the thirteenth anniversary of the Fukushima catastrophe, TEPCO installed five-hundred-meter-long new nets in the harbor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. They are made of a chemical fiber called polyester monofilament, which is said to have a maximum lifespan of about twenty years. The stakes that hold the nets in place have also been replaced with stronger steel pipes. The goal of the installment of more durable nets is to prevent fish from inhabiting the harbor near the discharge site where there are high concentrations of radioactive cesium.⁹

In May 2023, a black rockfish caught inside the inner breakwater, close to reactors No. 1 to No. 4, was detected to have a cesium activity level of 18,000 becquerels, greatly exceeding the standard value of general food (100 becquerels per kilogram). Between May 2022 and May 2023, surveys showed that “fish caught within and near the inner breakwater accounted for approximately 90% of the 44 [fish] with radioactive levels topping the 100 becquerels per kg limit” that were caught off the port near Fukushima Daiichi.¹⁰

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea, in 2023, traces of cesium were discovered in Japanese products on four occasions, prompting the cancellation of imports each time. A recent case happened on March 8, 2024, in which a small amount of cesium was detected in a Japanese confectionery product from Shizuoka Prefecture, which also led to the canceling of import plans.¹¹ According to Kyodo News on March 17, 2023, Koshu Kitamura from Shizuoka University stated that cesium was detected about two meters below the ground near the site of the July 2021 mudslide disaster in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He claimed that the radioactive material might have been dispersed during the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Japanese government did not learn the lesson of the Fukushima catastrophe. In February 2023, the Japanese government unveiled The Basic Policy for the Realization of Green Transformation (GX)—A Roadmap for the Next 10 Years, which aims to “achieve the target of approximately 20–22% nuclear power of the total power generation mix in 2030 defined by the Strategic Energy Plan.”¹² On May 12, 2023, the Green Transformation Act on Promotion of a Smooth Transition to a Decarbonized Growth-Oriented Economic Structure was passed. Its goal is to help cut carbon emissions and ensure an adequate national energy supply. It advocates the restarting of nuclear reactors and the development of next-generation reactors. It also extends the operating period of nuclear reactors from forty to over sixty years, despite lingering concerns over the safety of aging reactors.¹³ Currently, there are thirty-three operable reactors along the coastal areas in Japan, of which ten are operating. In addition, seven reactors have been approved for reopening, and a further eight have applications under review.

Earthquake Risks

The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and its consequences deepen the nuclear anxiety. On January 1, 2024, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest of Suzu, located on the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture. Again, it triggered nuclear safety concerns. TEPCO reported that radioactive water had spilled from nuclear fuel pools at Units 2, 3, 6, and 7 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture—the largest nuclear power plant in the world. About 10 liters of radioactive water had spilled from Unit 2; 0.46 liters of radioactive water from Unit 3; 600 liters of radioactive water from Unit 6; and 4 liters of radioactive water from Unit 7.

Hokuriku Electric Power Company reported that the Shika nuclear power plant on the Noto Peninsula, which had been closed since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, had problems such as transformer oil leaks, power supply system malfunctions, and cooling water overflows. It reported that two transformers for the external power supply of Units 1 and 2 at the Shika plant were damaged, and one of the transformers for the external power supply of Unit 2 leaked about 3,500 liters of oil, rendering part of the external power supply system inoperable. Later, it announced that as much as 19,800 liters of oil had leaked, and it was not yet known when the external power supply system would be repaired. Meanwhile, another transformer at Unit 2 was found to be leaking about 100 liters of oil. Moreover, several ground subsidence cases were found around the Unit 1 nuclear reactor building. Cooling water from the spent fuel pool at the Shika plant spilled onto the ground, and cooling pumps were shut down in an emergency.

Operations at Shika plant have not restarted since 2011. In 2016, a panel of experts from the Nuclear Regulation Authority concluded that the fault below the reactor building at the Shika plant may be an “active fault,” making it unsuitable for restarting. However, in March 2023, the commission reversed the panel’s judgment, stating that “there is no active fault.”¹⁴

According to the University of Tokyo, of the fourteen or fifteen tectonic plates known in the world, four converge on Japan; over two thousand active faults can be found. In 2017, according to the Japanese government’s Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, the total number of major active faults in the country has increased to 113, including two faults that lie near nuclear plants: the Shinji (Kashima) fault and the Koshiki fault.¹⁵ According to the 2013 White Paper on Disaster Prevention, issued by the cabinet, some 20 percent of earthquakes in the world measuring magnitude 6 or over occur in or around Japan. Further, there are 110 active volcanoes in Japan, accounting for about 7 percent of such volcanoes in the world.¹⁶ It is indeed a catastrophic human “fault” to build so-called “safe” reactors in the world’s most active earthquake zone. Yet, the irrational can only be understood in terms of geomilitary politics.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Japan has about 19,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in storage, or 80 percent of total storage capacity. The ulterior motive is, of course, a readiness to make atomic bombs—a preparation for militarization, not only for the revival of Japanese militarism, but also for its alliance with the United States. After the Second World War and Japan’s surrender, the country has acted as a U.S. pawn in the Asia-Pacific. According to David Vine, professor of political anthropology at the American University in Washington, DC, the United States had around 750 military bases in at least eighty countries as of July 2021. With 120 active bases, Japan has the highest number of U.S. bases in the world, followed by Germany with 119, and South Korea with 73. As of September 2022, there are 171,736 active-duty U.S. military troops across 178 countries, with the most in Japan (53,973), Germany (35,781), and South Korea (25,372).¹⁷ As of June 2023, there were over 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East alone.¹⁸

Grassroots Antinuclear Forces in Japan

On August 30, 2023, six days after the first round of discharge, we joined the field trip and the symposium in Fukushima, organized by PARC. We revisited Fukushima to listen to the voices of local communities. It was also a journey to learn from the long-existing grassroots antinuclear forces in Japanese society.

During our visit to Fukushima, we went to several museums commemorating the Fukushima nuclear disaster, established either by the Japanese government or by citizens. The government-funded museum is well-funded and large, but evades crucial issues, such as the challenging task of cleaning up the molten core of the nuclear plant. The large screen display announced over two hundred thousand visitors to date, reflecting its official promotion through mainstream channels.

In contrast, privately organized museums are smaller but convey the enduring voice of grassroots resistance, countering discourses propped up by capitalist elite forces. We listened intently to these small yet enduring voices that promote crossborder empathy, mutual assistance, and people’s solidarity. A convergent sustained struggle is needed to resist the Japanese government’s plans to discharge radioactive water—a hazard for all living creatures.

Words of Warning from Hyokoji Temple

Perched on a hill in Naraha Town, Futaba District, Fukushima Prefecture, is the six-hundred-year-old Hyokoji Temple. Here, a monument, a fire, and a pavilion illustrate the deeds of Hayakawa Tokuo 早川笃雄 (1940–2022), the chief monk of the Buddhist Hyokoji Temple, who fought against nuclear power since the inception of the Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Outside the Hiroshima Nagasaki Bikini Fukushima Dengonkan 伝言馆: Fukushima Museum for No-Nukes stands a monument titled “Monument of Regrets and Messages to the Future about Nuclear Power,” built on March 11, 2021, the tenth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Hayakawa, as the thirtieth chief monk of Hyokoji Temple, along with Anzai Yukuro 安斋育郎, a professor emeritus of Ritsumeikan University, wrote a message on a monument, cautioning the world about nuclear disasters:

Monument of Regrets and Messages to the Future about Nuclear Power

Resisting the tyranny of the nuclear industry and government for 40 years, we failed to prevent a nuclear disaster from happening. The nuclear power has revealed its extremely dangerous nature, robbing our homeland of its past, present, and future.

We want to let people know how important it is to sharpen our senses, apply our wisdom…joining forces to show courage in the face of irrational schemes, with the power of science and boundless love for life.

Next to the monument, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki-Bikini-Fukushima Lamp was erected, containing the “Fire of Hiroshima-Nagasaki No-Nukes,” from Ueno Toshogu Shrine. Dengonkan is dedicated to collecting information on nuclear explosions, nuclear disasters, and lawsuit filings, aiming to pass on a no-nukes message to the future and drawing on the lessons from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini Atoll, and Fukushima.

Beginning in March 1954, the United States conducted Operation Castle, a series of six thermonuclear test explosions on the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Castle Bravo test on March 1, 1954, was the largest explosion ever carried out by the United States in atmospheric nuclear testing, a thousand times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The result was a severe radioactive disaster that exposed civilians in the Marshall Islands, U.S. troops, and the Japanese tuna longline fishing boat Daigo Fukuryumaru (Lucky Dragon) to severe radiation contamination. Twenty-three Japanese crew members were exposed, and six months later, on September 23, radio operator Kuboyama Aikichi 久保山爱吉 died. This incident marked the beginning of Japan’s antinuclear movement, which has continued to this day.

Hayakawa, who had been involved in the antinuclear movement since 1972, had warned: “We must not let the same thing happen again. We must continue to deliver the no-nukes message.”¹⁹ As the thirtieth chief monk of Hyokoji Temple since 1977, he had tirelessly worked toward freeing the world from the nuclear scourge. Hayakawa’s life experiences, thoughts, and actions reveal a wise man of conscience. He is highly respected in grassroots movements.

Hayakawa worked as a high school teacher in Iwaki City for many years. During this time, the city faced severe pollution issues, leading him to organize the Iwaki City High School Pollution Study Group.

In 1971, when TEPCO commenced the commercial operation of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a series of accidents of varying magnitudes occurred. TEPCO was accused of falsifying and fabricating data, and concealing events that could have led to serious accidents. Subsequently, a second nuclear power plant was constructed in the town of Naraha. Believing the nuclear power plant was the source of new contamination problems, Hayakawa joined the Villagers’ Association for the Protection of Naraha Town from Contamination in 1972.

On June 25, 1973, the largest leakage of radioactive liquid waste in Japan’s history of nuclear power plants occurred at reactor No. 1 of the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. On September 18–19, during a public hearing on the installation of reactor No. 2 at TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, Hayakawa presented a plan for the managing and disposing of radioactive waste. In his statement, he denounced TEPCO for the weakness of its safety management system, the irresponsible creation of the myth of “absolute” safety of nuclear power plants, the dismissal of residents’ opinions, and the resulting strong sense of mistrust. In 1975, a lawsuit was filed to revoke the license for installing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and Hayakawa joined the plaintiffs.

In 1986, Hayakawa became part of the National Contact Centre of the People’s Movement for Nuclear Power and advocated for safety measures at nuclear power plants. However, the proposal was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1992. For Hayakawa, this movement served as “the only safety valve” against major accidents. When warnings of a “nuclear disaster” were issued after an earthquake in 1995, Hayakawa and others called for precautionary measures to be implemented at nuclear power plants in the event of earthquakes and tsunamis.

When the Fukushima nuclear accident happened, Hyokoji Temple had to be evacuated. Hayakawa also ran a home for the disabled, housing one hundred people, some of whom died during the evacuation. In 2012, Hayakawa led the plaintiffs’ group, filing a lawsuit against TEPCO in the Iwaki branch of the Fukushima District Court, seeking accountability for the evacuation. In March 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed TEPCO’s appeal, ordering compensation totaling approximately ¥730 million (approximately $4.86 million), higher than national compensation rates, and an apology. The plaintiffs’ representative, Hayakawa, received the apology and demanded, “I would like to find out, based on objective facts, the cause of the failure to prevent the accident and the responsible party.”²⁰ Hayakawa passed away at the age of 82 in December of the same year.

Hayakawa greatly admired the Japanese revolutionary poet Sumi Yasaka 八坂 スミ (1891–1986). On the right side of his obituary photo, there was a handwritten quote from an antiwar poem by Yasaka, which she wrote at 80 years old:

I can’t move on anymore
But in my hand
I still have a vote for peace

Empathy for Solving Problems

Fukushima, once renowned for its organic farming, has been struggling to survive after the March 11, 2011, nuclear disaster. Faced with nuclear contamination of the land, water, and air, as well as the anxieties and fears of consumers, maintaining organic farming has become extremely difficult. However, Seiji Sugeno 菅野正寿, the founder of Fukushima Prefecture’s Nihonmatsu Organic Farmers’ Association, has swum against the current.

Ohashi Masaaki 大桥正明 introduced us to Seiji. For the past twelve years, Ohashi has been supporting civil society organizations in Fukushima, promoting mutual help between rural and urban areas in Japan, as well as international exchanges. He planned and arranged for our Fukushima field trip in 2012. Ohashi, the copresident of PARC, and Tanaka Shigeru 田中滋, PARC’s secretary-general, organized another field trip to Fukushima at the end of August 2023. On the train, Ohashi explained that the current price of rice was lower than the price of water, with a five-hundred-milliliter bottle of mineral water costing ¥120–150 ($0.80–1), while a five-hundred-milliliter bottle containing four hundred grams of rice sold for ¥80–85 ($0.53–0.56). He became angry, sighed, and expressed sympathy for the farmers. He repeatedly used this case with his students to make them understand the farmers’ predicament and encouraged them to go to the countryside for research. Similar to professor Wen Tiejun, a leader of the rural reconstruction movement in today’s China, who plants organic rice paddies in Fujian Province, Ohashi also plants paddies in Seiji’s village. He often takes his students and friends to visit the farmers’ homes, stay in their lodgings, and work in the fields.

When Ohashi received a call for help from Seiji, he immediately asked around, and eventually found a social welfare agency in Tokyo willing to buy six tons of rice at a price higher than the purchase price set by the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives. The cooperatives, having pricing power, tended to suppress the price of rice in favor of urban consumers, leaving farmers in dire straits.

At the symposium in Fukushima, one did not need an introduction to identify Seiji. About 65 years old, with weathered skin and robust arms, he indeed had the typical appearance of a farmer. His eyes gleamed, and he spoke assertively. He delivered a comprehensive hour-long report, unequivocally stating that the government had ignored public opinion and was determined to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, disregarding the opinions of Fukushima residents. He, along with most local people, insisted on opposing nuclear power. He also elucidated how the Farmers’ Association had risen to the challenge.

Seiji has been dedicated to organic farming for forty years. In 2005, he founded the Local Resource Recycling Centre and later established the Home Village of Evening Mist, which operates a roadside station comprising a supermarket, processing facilities, and a farmers’ market. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Seiji founded the Organic Farmers’ Network, with around two hundred farmers as members, to sell agricultural products that had undergone testing. Each package of organic vegetables and fruits is labeled with the place of origin and the producer’s name.

They have established a regional resource recycling center to ferment cow dung, rice husks, and food scraps (chopped vegetables, seaweed, dried bonito flakes, noodles, buckwheat hulls, okra, wheat flour, sugar pills, herbs, and so on) into organic fertilizer. Additionally, the Network provides training for new farmers willing to engage in agroecological agriculture. Network members manage twenty-three farm lodges and frequently organize urban-rural exchange activities such as sowing seeds, planting seedlings, and harvesting. These initiatives allow more city dwellers to comprehend the real challenges faced by farmers. The Network collaborates with university researchers to conduct fact-finding surveys and test the radiation index of rice paddies, emphasizing that “the Truth is on the Spot.” Over the past decade, the Network and consumers have gradually established a relationship of mutual trust and support between urban and rural areas.

We stayed at the Yunosato Farm Lodge of Seiji’s family. The couple was hospitable, providing delicious meals for us. They proudly stated that their guests were consuming organic agricultural products grown by their family. The Seiji family worked tirelessly, with Seiji’s 80-year-old mother peeling beans and knitting cloth sandals, Seiji working in the fields early in the morning to manage production and sales, and his wife preparing meals and doing housework. The income from lodging constituted about 20 percent of their total income.

In the evening, we conversed for over three hours over a glass of wine. Seiji was lively and talkative. When asked how he met his wife, he laughed and said, there were cultural events in the villages where young people used to meet, sing, and dance. They met and fell in love.

The Global University for Sustainability has a project called “Life and Thought,” which interviews organic intellectuals from around the world. When we interviewed Seiji, he told us that his village traditionally grew mulberry trees to raise silkworms. However, in the 1980s, the price of silk halved, and the local silk market disappeared. Seiji subsequently transitioned to producing organic mulberry leaf products. His family was once a large landowner with three hectares of land, but land reform reduced the family holding to one hectare. Yet when more villagers withdrew from farming, the land he farmed gradually increased. He welcomes and supports young people who wish to become organic farmers in their hometowns. He believes that humans should not exploit everything; some land should be left in its natural state—not for growing rice, but for cultivating lotus flowers, or simply being wild. This approach attracts insects such as dragonflies, butterflies, bees, and fireflies, and allows children to enjoy the natural environment. He stresses that human beings are part of nature and should not monopolize all resources.

As a victim of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Seiji empathizes with victims in other countries. He once visited the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine and brought back a handful of soil as a reminder of the disaster.

Seiji’s ability to empathize across boundaries, time, and space, and his capacity to build understanding, mutual support, and reciprocal relationships step by step, constitute the foundation of social relationships that can pave the way for collaborative problem-solving alternatives.

The Balance of Justice

At the Fukushima Symposium in Nihomatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Sanpei Harue 三瓶春江, a member of the plaintiffs’ group for the victims of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Namie, Futaba District, shared the injustices and grievances she experienced during the prolonged litigation process. She sobbed, eyes filled with tears, bit her lips, and continued her speech.

Sanpei said that after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the villagers of the town of Namie were instructed to accommodate refugees from near the nuclear plants. Their area was also heavily contaminated by nuclear radiation, but the central government delayed issuing evacuation instructions or telling them the truth. Fortunately, the leaders of the town on their own organized the villagers to seek refuge in the city of Nihonmatsu. The entire Tsushima area in Namie Town was once designated as a “difficult-to-return” zone (that is, extremely contaminated). In 2015, over six hundred residents formed a group of plaintiffs consisting of Tsushima nuclear accident victims called Return Our Homeland to Us, and filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and TEPCO. They demanded the cleanup of residual nuclear contamination in their hometown.

Sanpei, who is 63 years old, used to be a housewife, taking care of her husband, children, and grandchildren. She never anticipated that after ten years of struggle, she would be on the frontline of a challenging battle for justice.

The next day, she took us to her home, which is less than fifty kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Sanpei said that the government declared 1.7 percent of the Tsushima area as a recovery zone, allowing residents to return to their homes. However, only five meters of land from the main roads had been decontaminated, but not the homes. The government forged an illusion of cleaned-up homes to which residents could return. During our visit, the radiation level outside the house was as high as 1.054 millisieverts per hour (the safety standard is 0.23 millisieverts per hour).

Sanpei said that the government in March 2024 announced that residents could apply to have their houses demolished, with the government taking up the task of demolition. However, the government will not cover the cost of rebuilding. Sanpei’s home is situated in the mountains, an area highly contaminated by nuclear radiation. After rain, contaminated water flows downhill, resulting in severe radioactive contamination. This means her home can never be completely decontaminated. Presently, only six families have returned to the area, and there are no community facilities, such as schools, clinics, or markets, nearby. Overall, it is unsuitable for habitation. Nevertheless, the government uses “return” to create the illusion that things are returning to normal.

Sanpei led us into her dilapidated house, not damaged by the earthquake or tsunami, but ruined over years of abandonment and occupation by wild animals.

Pointing to a pillar that measured the height of a child, she said in a hushed voice, “It is impossible to bring a child home. In the future, children and grandchildren will no longer know where home is.” When she looked up and saw elderly family members in faded photos hanging on the wall, she sobbed, saying, “The elderly are gone, never to return.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

She then mustered the courage to explain that although the District and Intermediate Courts had initially ruled in their favor, the High Court ultimately overturned the decision. Despite the previous setbacks, she has continued with the legal battle. Compensation is not her priority; the most crucial aspect is for the government to publicly acknowledge its fault and responsibility and apologize to the public.

Defying the Japanese government and the powerful TEPCO, she has sought justice tirelessly, rejecting the cultural condemnation of being uprooted, forgetting one’s ancestral lineage, and causing harm to future generations.

With the spirit of Don Quixote, Sanpei holds the balance of justice in her hands, supported by deeply rooted beliefs: Not forgetting one’s roots, and returning to one’s home.

Tribute to the Water God Shrine

Back in Tokyo, Ohashi Seiko 大桥诚子 took us to meet Ishii Hisao 石井久夫. He is more than 70 years old, and upon seeing Ohashi, he respectfully said, “I read about you on the Internet yesterday, and I admire you very much. It is a pleasure to meet you today.” He then led the three of us to visit the Toyosu Market.

We have known Ohashi for over twenty-five years as members of the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives. Ohashi used to oversee the Japan-Philippines banana alternative trade, was the Secretary-General of PARC for fifteen years, and is now an advisor to the Green Cooperative.

The Toyosu Water God Shrine runs three ceremonies a year, including one when we happened to be there, on September 5. Ishii expressed his gratitude that we were fortunate enough to meet and pay tribute together to the water god.

With most shrines in Japan, the temple would be at the end of a red bridge crossing. But the water god shrine worshiped by fisherfolk is the sea itself. The shrine does not face a temple, but the sea. For those coming to the shrine, the sea is sacred, giving life and providing humans with what they need. It should be revered and appreciated. Ohashi explained that Japanese fisherfolk oppose the discharge of radioactive water into the sea, as it not only affects food safety and the livelihood of fishermen, but also violates their cultural beliefs.

Toyosu Market is the world’s largest fish market, with a total transaction of 310,000 tons of aquatic products in 2022, setting global daily prices for aquatic products and maintaining professional standards regarding constant temperature and sterility. With government-imposed release of radioactive water, many countries instituted a ban on the import of Japanese fishery products, causing prices to plummet. On the same day the Japanese government discharged the first round of the nuclear-contaminated water, China banned all Japanese seafood imports due to concerns for consumers’ health. According to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, China has been the world’s top importer of Japan’s seafood.

When we visited Yamaharu Fisheries Wholesale Company, which specializes in exporting to China, they told us that then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida 岸田文雄 had come the day before and stood in the same spot, listening to fisheries representatives in order to learn about the situation. They expressed their great concern to the prime minister: The long-term effects of ocean pollution on humans, the sea, and the ecology remain unclear. Kishida said he was also concerned, but this part of the statement was removed from the Japanese television news broadcast. Indeed, it contrasts with a previous video released by the Japanese government on August 30, 2023, in which the prime minister and three Cabinet ministers exclaimed that they ate “very delicious” fish sashimi from Fukushima.

The Japanese government spent ¥80 billion ($533 million) to set up a fund to ease the damage to Japan’s fisheries and provide support. It emphasizes that the discharges are made after “treatment” with the ALPS within safety standards, and it has the endorsement of the IAEA. A comprehensive IAEA report pointed out that the procedures for discharging treated water complied with relevant international safety standards, and the radiological impacts on human beings and the environment were negligible. Senior government officials in Japan, and even the IAEA, ignored the voices of fisherfolk. On the day of the first discharge of contaminated water, Tetsu Nozaki 野崎哲, president of the Fukushima Prefecture Fishermen’s Cooperative Association, stated on the commencement of discharges into the ocean:

We believe that from a national perspective, the government must take full responsibility for the decision to begin discharging ALPS-treated water into the ocean. But as we have always stated, our opposition to ocean discharges that are not accepted by the fishing industry and the public has not changed in the slightest…. For us fishermen, the only hope is to continue to fish on the foreshore, where we were born and raised, as we had done before the accident…. In the meantime, the Japanese government must take full responsibility for staying close to the fishermen and continue to take the necessary measures, even if it takes decades, to ensure not only scientific safety but also social safety. They must ensure that the environment in which the fishermen of this prefecture and their future generations can continue to fish with peace of mind will not be damaged.²¹

On September 20, 2024, China and Japan reached an agreement on the discharge into the ocean of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water. It said that “Given the concerns of China and all other stakeholders, Japan welcomes the establishment of a long-term international monitoring arrangement within the IAEA framework covering key stages in the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water, and will ensure that China and all other stakeholders can participate substantively in the arrangement and that these participating countries can carry out independent sampling and monitoring as well as inter-laboratory comparisons (ILCs).”²² Previously, the Japanese government had refused to provide adequate information to the public. It commissioned only the IAEA to conduct an examination and share information. Economic concerns also put Japan under pressure to allow stakeholders other than the IAEA to conduct independent research and evaluation. This concession was made in exchange for China’s possible reversal of its ban on all seafood imports from Japan.

The road ahead to clean up the polluted ocean and rebuild the cultural beliefs of worshiping the god of water is a rocky one.

Connecting North and South

Seiji Sugeno said that after the March 11 nuclear accident, many city groups, organizations, and university students supported the residents of Fukushima. More than a decade of exchanges between urban and rural areas have fostered affection and encouraged people to find an alternative way forward together. The Green Cooperative is a model.

As Ohashi understands it, the Green Cooperative does not make any official statements against the government. However, it opposes all nuclear facilities, including power plants, and has been supporting Fukushima’s agriculture, fisheries, and consumer movements during the years since the 2011 nuclear disaster. The Green Cooperative tests food for radioactive contamination, including products from Fukushima, to inform members of their safety. It stands in solidarity with the fisherfolk, buying products from them that meet safety standards and sharing the test results, building trust between consumers and producers.

Additionally, it questions the building of more nuclear power plants and invests its resources in solar energy generation. It demands that the prefecture government provide a public grid to deliver power from solar energy, which should be a public service provided free of charge, rather than one monopolized by private companies.

The Green Cooperative was established in the 1980s, initiated by progressive social movement activists. Originally formed by a coalition of twenty-four small local cooperatives, it now has branches in fifteen regions across the country, totaling around four hundred thousand members, and produces a weekly newsletter providing product information and ordering forms. Besides engaging in commercial trading activities, it also organizes social concern groups to discuss social issues and promote social care.

The Green Cooperative has found the right person to be its advisor. Ohashi has been promoting alternative trade in Japan and the Philippines for over twenty years. She and the Green Cooperative share the same vision.

Ohashi pointed out that there is a long history of consumer movements in Japan, commencing with the student-led movements of the 1960s, during which the leaders reached out to and organized housewives, many of whom had no political experience. However, they slowly became concerned about chemicals and related health issues due to Minamata disease and other industrial illnesses. In the 1980s, the antinuclear movement flourished in Japan, raising public awareness of health and environmental issues.

Leaders of the consumer movements reached out to middle-class neighborhoods to discuss organic farming and food safety. Many mothers, fearful of giving their babies and young children chemically contaminated food, quickly joined the consumer movements.

To inform Japanese consumers, the Japan Committee for Negros Campaign invites leaders of consumer groups on study tours to the Negros Mountains in the Philippines. Approximately eight leaders visit every year to establish contacts and friendships with local producers. Some members also travel to Negros Island at their own expense to visit banana farmers. Ohashi said she remembered one woman was shocked when she picked up a farmer’s frail baby. Since then, Japanese consumers have begun to examine the relationship between Japan and the Philippines, and with other Asian countries. They contemplate the root causes of the North-South divide and actively seek ways to address them, rather than resorting to the approach of charitable donations for temporary relief.

In June 1991, Ohashi visited Negros Island for the first time. As the plane she was traveling in approached the island, she saw the vast green fields below. She wondered why so many people were starving when there was so much farmland. The period between sugarcane planting and harvesting was the “dead season,” when there was little work on the plantations, and migrant laborers were in debt to the landowners to meet the daily needs of their families. By harvest time, they barely earned enough to pay off their debts.

In Ohashi’s efforts, we see a pure and simple endeavor to advocate for the vulnerable, not only to support the farmers and fishermen in Japan but also to reflect on the North-South relationship between Japan and other countries. She stands in solidarity with oppressed groups in Asia that are victimized in the process of modernization. Across national boundaries, oppressed and marginalized groups must unite and fight together for a common cause. Opposition to the discharge of radioactive water brings the Japanese people to join hands with the people of the Asia-Pacific region.

Warming People’s Hearts

Hotel Furutakiya in Iwaki City, Fukushima, is famous not only for its century-old history but also for the way it nurtures people’s minds and hearts. After the March 11 nuclear disaster, the owner, Satomi Yoshio 里見喜生, transformed his family’s hot spring hotel into a base for receiving relief supplies and accommodating volunteers from all over the country. With his private resources, Satomi converted two hotel rooms into a small exhibition hall and established the Atomic Power Disaster Museum, akin to the Minamata Disease Museum, where artifacts and historical materials commemorating the Fukushima disaster are permanently displayed.

The following text is posted at the museum entrance:

No more people
No one, will ever lose their hometown again.
To prevent anyone from losing their hometown again,
We want to continue to protect the hometowns of others.
This is the essence of a hometown.

In the center of the room, the picture of a little girl with a charming smile hangs on an installation made from branches of a dead tree, next to the girl’s black coat and black-and-white striped skirt. In the background, a large photo depicts firefighters intently searching for survivors of the March 11 earthquake.

Satomi shared a heartbreaking story: After the tragedy, firefighters heard sounds under the rubble on March 12, but had to abandon the search due to orders to immediately evacuate the area following an explosion of the nuclear power plant. “There was a father who found only his daughter’s clothes in the rubble,” Satomi recounted sadly. The exhibits evoked the despair of the father combing through the debris. Despite not being an artist, this father had created this exhibit in memory of his daughter and the countless souls lost. We stood in silence.

During his speech at the opening of the Atomic Power Disaster Museum, Satomi discussed how to endure the pain: “In the face of irrational reality, suffering, and immense pain, what sustains me is the undeniable ‘weight of history’ itself. Even if one loses what is right in front of us, having something to inherit has always made me believe that we can confront reality.” In addition to its historical materials, the museum also presents ongoing litigation files and encourages public involvement and collective reflection: “The unprecedented devastation caused by the nuclear disaster has shaken the fundamental values of society. What have we lost, what have we realized, and what must we regain? What is truly vital to life? What kind of society should we create to ensure that we never experience such a loss again?”

Touching Each Other

Our Legacies Art Gallery in Minamisoma City holds about fifty art exhibits, including paintings, sculptures, and photographs, that revisit the nuclear disaster and convey people’s stories and collective memories through art. The director of the gallery, 56-year-old Tokyo-based photographer Nakasuji Jun 中筋纯, allows visitors to explore the gallery freely before explaining its history. Nakasuji and a group of artists had been traveling around Japan to hold mobile exhibitions about the nuclear disaster. The concept for the museum emerged when Nakasuji visited Minamisoma City in late 2022 and spoke to the residents. He was offered a free warehouse, which he and the residents renovated and transformed into a free public art gallery.

Nakasuji, who lived for some time in Namie and Okuma Towns, both severely affected by the nuclear accident, was profoundly moved by the crisis of vanishing cultural memories, noting that “elements that can convey the nuclear disaster are disappearing from the towns as reconstruction work progresses.” He expressed his hope that this place would serve as a gathering spot for artists and people to collectively preserve the memory of the nuclear disaster and Fukushima through their expressions.

At the gallery entrance, photos of the Omori Cherry Blossom Tunnel in Tomioka-machi are displayed. Adjacent to a display of barricades taken from the evacuation zone, there is a head of a dead cow made from paper, chained to and gnawing on a wooden post, symbolizing the agony of being chained and starving alive. Another cow’s head hangs from a bamboo pole in the railing. Ironically, above it hangs the word “FUTURE” 未来 in large letters, in the same typeface used on a banner that once promoted nuclear energy as the hope for the FUTURE.

In the center of the hall stands a massive wooden sculpture of a hand, reaching upward, in agony.

Put against the ceiling is a large oil painting illustrating horses and cows that perished after the nuclear disaster, the sea and its marine life, and the people who survived. The artist, Yamauchi Wakana 山内若菜, aged 46, from Kanagawa Prefecture, had visited Fukushima multiple times and portrayed what she had observed and heard, spanning from before the accident to the present and projecting into the future.

In 2020, Japan established the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum in the township of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, which is located four kilometers from Fukushima Daiichi. As Nakasuji said: “While there is the huge museum, people need to pass on the collective legacy of stories, memories, and lessons learned from the earthquake and nuclear disaster, not leaving the discourse solely to the government.”

A straw mat was laid on the floor of the gallery, where we lay down, gazing upward, touching, and feeling the blending of colors that transitioned between life and death. In touching one another, the larger self is emerging.

Notes

1. ↩ See the First South-South Forum on Sustainability, Global University, December 12–14, 2011; Sixth South-South Forum on Sustainability: Ecology, Livelihood, and Community Regeneration, Global University, June 3–July 7, 2019; and Eighth South-South Forum on Sustainability: The Politics of Hope, June 15–July 19, 2021, our-global-u.org.
2. ↩ Kin Chi Lau, Huang Xiaomei, and He Zhixiong, The Fukushima Catastrophe: To What End?, Global University for Sustainability Series (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023).
3. ↩ Tsui Sit and Kin Chi Lau, eds., Fukushima: A Monument to the Future of Nuclear Power, Global University for Sustainability Series (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
4. ↩ International Forum, “Voices of People in Fukushima who Coexist with the Ocean,” YouTube video, 1:57:47, April 20, 2024.
5. ↩ See Yuichi Kaido’s presentation at the International Forum, “Voices of People in Fukushima who Coexist with the Ocean“; Jiang Xueqing, “Japan’s Court Hears Lawsuit against Govt, TEPCO”, China Daily, March 6, 2024.
6. ↩ Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Subcommittee on Handling ALPS Treated Water, February 10, 2020, meti.go.jp.
7. ↩ “One Month on: Status of Fukushima Daiichi Treated Water Release,” NHK News, September 25, 2023.
8. ↩ Arjun Makhijani, Exploring Tritium Dangers: Health and Ecosystem Risks of Internally Incorporated Radionuclides (Washington, DC: Opus, 2023).
9. ↩ “日本東電強化福島第一核電廠附近防止魚群外游的網 (Japan’s TEPCO Strengthens Nets around Fukushima Daiichi Plant to Prevent Fish Migration),” Ta Kung Pao, March 12, 2024.
10. ↩ “Cesium 180 Times Limit Found in Fish at Fukushima Nuke Plant 12 Years after Disaster,” Mainichi, July 19, 2023.
11. ↩ Yonhap, “Japanese Candy Tests Positive for Radioactive Material before Being Imported to S. Korea,” Korea Herald, March 8, 2024.
12. ↩ Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, The Basic Policy for the Realization of GX—A Roadmap for the Next 10 Years (Tokyo: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, February 2023).
13. ↩ “Japan Enacts Law for Operating Nuclear Reactors beyond 60-Yr Limit,” Kyodo News, May 31, 2023.
14. ↩ “Faults under Shika N-Power Plant Not Active: NRA,” Japan News, March 4, 2023.
15. ↩ International Information Center for Geotechnical Engineers, “Sixteen New Locations Listed as Major Active Fault Zones in Japan,” February 22, 2017, geoengineer.org.
16. ↩ University of Tokyo, “The World’s Most Active Earthquake Zone Is the Closest Place on Earth to Unraveling World-Shaking Geophysical Mysteries,” n.d.
17. ↩ SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, sipri.org.
18. ↩ Todd Lopez, “Defense Official Says U.S. Remains Committed to Middle East,” news release, U.S. Department of Defense; Mohammed Hussein and Mohammed Haddad, “Infographic: US Military Presence around the World,” Al Jazeera, September 10, 2021; Hope O’Dell, “The US Is Sending More Troops to the Middle East. Where in the World Are US Military Deployed?,” Blue Marble, October 25, 2023, updated April 5, 2024, globalaffairs.org/bluemarble.
19. ↩ Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini, and Fukushima Dengonkan—Fukushima Museum for No Nukes, exhibition catalog, n.d.; ASAP Anzai, “第17回「早川篤雄さん、福島反原発住民運動」-放射能から命を守るシリ谤ズ- (No. 17: Mr. Atsuo Hayakawa and the Fukushima Anti-Nuclear Resident Movement),” December 6, 2013, asap-anzai.com.
20. ↩ “东电向福岛核事故索赔诉讼原告方道歉: ‘非常抱歉’ (TEPCO Apologizes to Plaintiffs in the Lawsuit of Fukushima Nuclear Accident: ‘Very Sorry’),” China News, June 6, 2022.
21. ↩ Tetsu Nozaki, “野崎哲, 福島県漁連会長「社会的な安心、確保を」　処理水放出で声明 (Social Reassurance Must Be Ensured),” Fukushima Prefecture Fishermen’s Cooperative Association, August 25, 2023.
22. ↩ People’s Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “China and Japan Reach Agreement on Ocean Discharge of Fukushima Nuclear-Contaminated Water,” MFA News, September 20, 2024.