The demonstrations against the restarting of the Oi nuclear power plant held recently on Friday nights outside Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda¡¯s residence are very much directed at the occupant of that abode, but they are attracting attention around the world, too. One of their closest followers is a Japanese expatriate based some 12,000 km away: Ryuichi Sakamoto.
¡°There was a large demonstration tonight, and they were there till a few minutes ago,¡± Sakamoto mentioned to The Japan Times by telephone from New York last Friday. It was as though the man whose stellar career with the electro-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra took him to New York some 22 years ago was reporting from the picket line himself.
Yet, Sakamoto¡¯s close observation of his home country¡¯s still-nascent antinuclear-power movement stems partly from a fear that it might not achieve anything. ¡°For so long in Japan it has been normal for people to not voice their opinions,¡± he said. ¡°The Fukushima crisis changed that, making dissent more acceptable, but I¡¯m worried that this mood could fizzle out at any moment.¡±
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