Despite being orchestrated by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, novelist Kenzaburo Oe and other prominent figures, the Sayonara Nukes 100,000 Rally held on the July 16 national holiday in Tokyo often looked and felt like conventional old-left demonstrations.
The rally to demand a nuclear-free Japan drew a large number of labor union members, consumer and other old-time activists, waving flags of their organizations, among the estimated 170,000 participants in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.
But in a small corner of the rally, there was a new breed of civic activists in Japan, which include fashion-conscious young people, parents with young children, artists and others who seem least likely to join a political demonstration.
Continue reading at Nuclear-free movement attracts new breed to massive Tokyo rally
