As the nuclear crisis precipitated by the 2011 Great Eastern Earthquake unfolded, spewing radioactive material across northern Japan, Sachiko Sato of Fukushima sent her three children away to safety while she stayed behind. With clear information about fallout and radiation levels in short supply from the government, other families inside and outside the evacuation zones faced similar separation. Businesses continued as usual despite rising radiation levels, so parents, often fathers, were forced to stay at work as the wives and children left for Tokyo or western Japan.

While Sato’s children worried about their classmates who remained in Fukushima, the Japanese government, rather than arrange for wider evacuation, raised the legal radiation limit by 20 times. The new limit: 20 mSv per year, equivalent to some countries’ maximum-allowed dose for nuclear workers.

Meanwhile, Sato’s organic farm in Fukushima faced contamination from the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Many farmers like her may never be able to return to their land, and those who can grow untainted food are challenged with trying to sell it to a fearful public confused by lax government testing and regulation.

Sato and her 13- and 17-year-old children, Yuuki and Mina, plan to share their stories in New York City this month at a presentation with anti-nuclear activists. The Satos will talk about poor evacuation operations, the splitting of families and the impact of the nuclear meltdowns to lives and livelihoods.

Joining the Sato family are Yukiko Anzai, who will talk about the fate of farmers after the meltdowns, and activists Kaori Izumi, Aileen Mioko Smith and Kevin Kamps.

Kaori Izumi, director of Shut Tomari, will discuss the unhealthy and corrupting relationship between government, business, the media and pro-nuclear intellectuals and the judiciary. Aileen Mioko Smith, Executive Director of Green Action and a veteran anti-nuclear campaigner in Japan, will discuss her petition to the UN High Commission on Human Rights to recognize and address the plight of children in the Fukushima region. Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear will describe the “Freeze our Fukushimas” campaign, a first step in shutting down reactors in the U.S. identical to those at Fukushima Daiichi.

The organizers timed the meeting to coincide with a United Nations meeting that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is holding in response to the Fukushima catastrophe. The organizers hope that by drawing the UN’s attention to the human suffering caused by nuclear power, they can convince the UN to stop promoting its use.

When

Thursday, September 22, 12–2pm.
Brown bag lunch recommended. Soft drinks will be available.

Where

American Friends Service Committee Meetinghouse
15 Rutherford Place between 15th and 16th Streets, and 2nd and 3rd Avenues
New York City

RSVP

If you plan to attend, please email Kevin Kamps at Beyond Nuclear: Kevin@beyondnuclear.org.

For more information, call 301.270.2209 to speak to Kevin Kamps or Linda Gunter.

Who

Sachiko Sato, an organic farmer from Fukushima and her 13- and 17-year old children, Yuuki and Mina, will talk about poor evacuation operations, the splitting of families and the impact of the nuclear meltdowns to lives and livelihoods.

Kaori Izumi, director of Shut Tomari, Hokkaido, Japan, will discuss the unhealthy and corrupting relationship between government, business, the media and pro-nuclear intellectuals and the judiciary.

Yukiko Anzai, from near Tomari, Hokkaido, will talk about the fate of farmers after the meltdowns.

Aileen Mioko Smith, Executive Director of Green Action and a veteran anti-nuclear campaigner in Japan will discuss her petition to the UN High Commission on Human Rights to recognize and address the plight of children in the Fukushima region.

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear will describe the U.S. “Freeze our Fukushimas” campaign, a first step in shutting down US reactors identical to those at Fukushima-Daiichi units 1-4 as part of a goal to phase out operation at all 104 US reactors.

The event is co-sponsored by: Abolition 2000 NY Metro ■ American Friends Service Committee ■ Beyond Nuclear ■ Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation ■ Granny Peace Brigade ■ Green Action ■ Nuclear Age Peace Foundation ■ Peace Action International, CT ■ Physicians for Social Responsibility, NY ■ Shut Down Indian Point Now ■ Shut Tomari ■ Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Download event flyer (PDF)

To sign-on the petition, please see the link below.
http://www.foejapan.org/en/news/110831.html

Best regards,

Eri Watanabe
Friends of the Earth Japan

—————————————————————–
*1st Deadline
September 9th 2011

*Online form
http://www.foejapan.org/en/news/110831.html

*Inquiry
Friends of the Earth Japan
Email: finance@foejapan.org
—————————————————————–
August 31, 2011

Urgent International Petition

To:
Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister
Minister of Finance
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Japanese Government Should Immediately Abandon its Policy of Promoting Exports of Nuclear Power Plants

It Should Take the Lead in Phasing Out Nuclear Energy Worldwide

*Our Demands
We strongly urge the Japanese government to take the following action:

To immediately abandon its policy of promoting exports of nuclear power plants;

To cancel all existing plans to export nuclear power plants;

To take the lead in realizing a worldwide phase out of nuclear power.

*Rationale

As a result of the March 11 th 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that followed, a major accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused massive radiation leaks into the environment. The accident still has not been brought under control and radiation leaks continue to contaminate Fukushima , and a huge area including the Tohoku (Northeastern) and Kanto (Eastern) regions of Japan , as well as the world’s marine environment.

Despite the experience of the accidents at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plants, we were unable to prevent the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Even small doses of radiation cause damage to genes. In particular, the greatest danger is to children and pregnant women, who hold the fate of the next generation in their hands. It is now obvious that nuclear power and human beings cannot co-exist. While the people of Fukushima and others continue to suffer as a result of the accident, we believe that international society should stand by those affected, broaden the circle of support and, for the sake of future generations, together seek a worldwide phase out of nuclear energy.

The Japanese government has been proud of Japan ’s technological prowess. However, the accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant has proven that technology cannot prevent severe accidents. After the accident, the former Prime Minister, Naoto Kan , proposed phasing out nuclear energy and the Japanese government declared its intention of reviewing national nuclear energy policy. The government stated, “While conducting a thorough review of the causes of the accident, taking into account the views of all sectors of the public, the government will advance the consideration of future energy policy, including whether to build new reactors.” (July 1 Cabinet Decision).

However, regarding the export of nuclear power plants, on August 5 th the Japanese government approved a cabinet decision indicating a continuation of its policy of exporting nuclear power plants. The cabinet decision declared, “Importing countries are primarily responsible for assurance of the safety of nuclear power plants” and “If other countries desire to adopt Japanese nuclear power technology, bearing in mind recipient countries’ wishes, we believe we should provide those with the highest safety standard in the world.” Without completing the review of the causes of the accident and without conducting sufficient nation-wide debate, the Japanese government’s promotion of nuclear exports is clearly a double standard and a mistake. Furthermore, it is unethical for the Japanese government to continue to export nuclear power plants when the accident has not been brought under control and many people still live under very difficult circumstances, lacking adequate support. Indeed, it could even lead to the expansion and spread of devastation.

It is also clear that, without even including the cost of responding to accidents, the cost of nuclear power is enormous. To export nuclear power plants is to impose that cost on ordinary people in the importing country. From the perspective of business or international cooperation, promoting technology for energy saving and renewable energy is more promising than nuclear power.

Japan experienced nuclear devastation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and also from the Fukushima nuclear accident. We sincerely hope that the government of Japan will lead the way to a worldwide phase out of nuclear energy and show an example of building a sustainable and peaceful society that is not dependent on nuclear power, so that human beings need never again suffer a catastrophe caused by nuclear power.

(End)

*Sponsoring organizations
Friends of the Earth Japan
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
Network for Indonesian Democracy Japan
The Takagi Fund for Citizen Science
Mekong Watch
Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center
Green Action

2 June 2011
To: Foreign Media in Japan

Japanese Utility Still Committed to New Nuclear Reactors

Amid calls to halt all nuclear development in Japan, following the unprecedented disaster in Fukushima, Hiroshima-based utility Chugoku Electric is pushing ahead with a total of three new nuclear reactors in Matsue and Kaminoseki, the latter despite three decades of opposition by local island residents, and recent warnings on the need to safeguard biodiversity in Kaminoseki’s “Kiseki-no-Umi” – “Sea of Miracles.”

Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc. (head office, Hiroshima city) has a new reactor (No. 3) nearing completion at the Shimane Power Plant, close by Matsue city. Two more reactors are planned for the new Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Seto Inland Sea coast 70 km south-west of Hiroshima, a project which has been actively opposed by nearby islanders for the last 30 years.
Iwaishima is a small island 3.5 km offshore from the site of the plant. Its residents, mostly grandmothers and grandfathers now, have refused to accept 1 billion yen as compensation. In weekly protest demonstrations, they have used their boats and their own bodies to try to block construction. Many young people from around Japan have come to support them, including a kayak team working with the local people trying to prevent planned landfill from proceeding. The company has retaliated by obtaining a Supreme Court ruling setting a penalty of 5 million yen per day if work is obstructed.
International academics and scientists have expressed deep concern over the plant’s threat to the biodiversity of the nearby sea, and recent documentaries have depicted the islanders’ hard-fought campaign against the plant, and highlighted the island’s beautiful environment.
On March 17th, the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture requested Chugoku Electric to temporarily suspend the project. However, parties opposed to the construction of Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant demand its complete termination. The triple meltdown and resulting emissions of high levels of radioactivity into the air, land and ocean in Fukushima has proved beyond doubt that the safety of nuclear power cannot be guaranteed, and its threat to the environment cannot be ignored.
The grandfathers and grandmothers of Iwaishima are not interested in the company’s promises of safety and financial prosperity. They understand real wealth. All that they want is to pass on to their successors the traditional cultural heritage and unspoilt natural environment that they have known all their lives. They want the Kaminoseki Nuclear Plant project terminated, permanently.

■Information available in English
●Chugoku Electric Power
http://www.energia.co.jp/e/energia/profile/profile.html
(Head Office)
4-33 Komachi,Naka-ku,Hiroshima-shi,Hiroshima
730-8701,Japan
Tel: +81-82-241-0211 Fax: +81-82-523-6185
★General meeting of stockholders is scheduled for June 29, 2011. Local citizen’s organizations (“Iwaijima-citizens against building the Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant ” and “the Anti-Nuclear Citizens of Kaminoseki”) along with the anti-nuclear shareholders of the Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc. have been organizing sit-ins in front of the Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc. headquarters building and writing up appeals to the shareholders every year.
●English leaflet from Iwaishima islanders
“No Nuclear Power Plant in Our Community! Iwaishima says no to nuclear power”
http://shimabito.net/200907english.pdf
●Kaminoseki: Nuclear Power Plant, Human Rights and Biodiversity
http://hotspotkaminoseki.soreccha.jp/
English Blog by ANKEI Yuji, Professor of area studies in Yamaguchi Prefectural University. Head of the Comittee for Conservation of Kaminoseki Biodiversity, Ecological Society of Japan. A member of the Amnesty International. Sc. D., Ecological Anthropologist.
●Recent blog post at Ten Thousand Things
“Amidst hopeful signs, activists continue impassioned efforts to stop nuclear power plant in gorgeous Seto Inland Sea”
http://tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blogspot.com/2011/05/amidst-hopeful-signs-activists-continue.html
●Recent news article in Japan Times
May 15, 2011 “Utility and opponents lock horns over planned N-plant”
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110515x3.html
●Recent news article in LA Times
May 5, 2011 “Japan islanders oppose proposed nuclear plant, year after year“
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/05/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-protest-20110504
●Recent article in Yale Environment 360
17 Mar, 2011 “Japan’s Once-Powerful Nuclear Industry is Under Siege”
http://e360.yale.edu/mobile/feature.msp?id=2383
●CNIC Newsletter
http://cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit133/nit133articles/kaminoseki.html

■Recent Movies on Iwaishima
●”Houri no Shima (HOLY ISLAND)”
Director: HANABUSA Aya
2010/JAPAN/105 minutes
English page: http://www.hourinoshima.com/english/
Trailer: http://www.hourinoshima.com/予告編/
★HANABUSA Aya and KOIDE Hiroaki, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, will hold a seminar on June 11 in Kobe.
http://civil-society-forum.com/?p=546
●”Ashes to Honey: Toward a Sustainable Future” (2010)
Director KAMANAKA Hitomi
Trailer: http://888earth.net/888tv.html
from same director
“Rokkasho Rhapsody” (2006)
Trailer: http://www.rokkasho-rhapsody.com/en/_preview/trailers
■Main Information in Japanese
●祝島島民の会blog (Blog of Iwaishima Islanders)
http://blog.shimabito.net/
★The list of movie clips of protest movements
http://shimabito.net/siryou%20200909100922.htm
●Nuclear reactors under construction / plan on Chugoku Electric Power website (Japanese only)
島根原子力発電所3号機（建設中　営業運転開始　平成24年3月予定）
http://www.energia.co.jp/atom/atom13-1.html
上関原子力発電所（準備工事中）
http://www.energia.co.jp/atom/kami_menu.html
●長島の自然を守る会 (Association to Protect the Nature of Nagashima)
http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~haguman/nagasima.htm
●カンムリウミスズメ国際シンポジウム (International Conference on Japanese Murrelets, April 10, 2011 at Hiroshima)
https://sites.google.com/site/nagashimanoshizen/

Japanese Utility Still Committed to New Nuclear Reactors

Download PDF(471KB)

[English translation]
28 March 2011
Radiological Impact of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
Petition following negotiations with Japanese Ministry of Health,
Labour, and Welfare

Issued by: Participants of the March 28, 2011 meeting with the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare

[Summary]

1. The Ministry’s call for the “active voluntary evacuation” of residents living within a 20 km to 30 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations is irresponsible. Immediately issue a directive to evacuate and enlarge the evacuation zone commensurate with radiation doses.
2. Calculate and publicize regularly the total cumulative radiation dose local residents receive collectively.
3. Repeal the upward revision of the maximum permissible radiation dose (250 milliSieverts) for emergency-response workers at the Fukushima plant.
4. Expand the scope of radiation monitoring and publicize the results.
5. Undertake immediately a comprehensive survey of the radiation exposure and current state of health of local residents and provide for their long-term health care.
6. Do not relax the provisional standards governing the maximum permissible levels of radionuclides in food.
7. Provide compensation for damages to farm and dairy producers and to people who are forced to relocate.
8. Generally, take all measures necessary to ensure that members of the public do not receive radiation doses greater than 1 milliSievert per annum.

---

Full text of petition (PDF)

For original Japanese petition see:
総理大臣と厚生労働大臣宛：3月28日厚生労働省との交渉を踏まえた要望書

Green Action (Japan) and Mihama-no-Kai

Urgent Statement Concerning Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident
23 March 2011

High Levels of Radiation Detected in Vegetables, Unprocessed Milk, Water, and Soil

Unnecessary Radiation Exposure Imposed Due to Japanese Government’s Lack of
Evacuation plan and “Declaration of Safety”

• Immediately evacuate infants and pre-school age children and pregnant women who are within the 20-30km radius (“stay indoors” zone) to locations farther from the
  Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
• Extend the evacuation zone radically to avoid further exposure
• Discontinue the “declaration of safety” that states, “there is no immediate harm to human health”. This message is not properly transmitting the dangers of internal exposure and late–onset radiation damage (cancer, leukemia, etc).

Due to the catastrophic accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, high levels of radioactive contamination have been detected in a variety of vegetables, unprocessed milk, water and soil. The contamination has spread outside of Fukushima to neighboring prefectures and has been detected on several leafy vegetables such as spinach, cabbage, komatsuna/Japanese mustard spinach, broccoli, as well as in unprocessed milk.

Radioactive iodine 131 was detected in tap water in Tokyo (approx. 200Bq/l), and the Tokyo government officially announced that people should “refrain from giving tap water to infants under 1 year of age”. Tap water in Iidate village, approx. 40km away from the nuclear plant, measured 965Bq/kg, three times higher than the limit considered safe (300Bq/kg).

In the same Iidate village, the soil has also been contaminated, showing high levels of radioactive cesium137 (163,000Bq/kg). The half-life of cesium is approximately 30 years, resulting in contaminated soil for an extended period of time. A measurement of 1,170,000Bq/kg of radioactive iodine 131 was also detected. This cesium level is equivalent to levels detected some 10 to 150km from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident.

Due to the high levels of radioactive contamination, the government has issued a “shipping restriction” and “consumption restriction”. However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano has repeatedly stated that consumption “in the short term, will not do any harm to human health.” And that the restriction is “just precautionary.” The government is trying to do one thing: downplay radioactive contamination and its influence on people’s health as much as possible. Those infants and pregnant women told to stay indoors within the 20-30km area have been left abandoned. Under these conditions, residents are forced to receive unnecessary radiation exposure due to the government’s “declaration of safety” and lack of an evacuation plan.

Newscasters have finally begun asking experts what the phrase “no immediate harm to health” means, but the experts have only replied that, “There is no immediate harm. However, people should avoid drinking contaminated water in the long term”, and have failed to explain the effects of late-onset radiation damage, such as cancer and leukemia.

• We demand the government extend the evacuation area immediately!
  In particular, evacuate infants and pregnant women within the 20-30km area to locations farther outside of the zone!
• The government should retract its statement that “there is no immediate harm to human health” which does not convey the dangers of internal exposure and the latent effects of radiation exposure (such as cancer and leukemia), and erroneously declares “safety”.

23 March 2011 [Issued at 21:30 Japan time]

Aileen Mioko Smith,
Executive Director
Green Action
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel: +81-75-701-7223 Fax: +81-75-702-1952 email: amsmith@gol.com

Hideyuki Koyama,
Director
Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi, and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants (Mihama-no-Kai)
3F., Seiko Building, 4-3-3 Nishi-Temma, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan
Tel: +81-6-6367-6580 Fax: +81-6-6367-6581

February 24, 2011: 174 organizations worldwide sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Japan and key Cabinet officials warning that funding for the South Texas project from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation would be an extraordinary financial risk. Sign-on letter to Japanese Prime Minister and Cabinet.

NIRS press release:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/jbicpr22411.pdf

---

February 24, 2011

Mr Naoto Kan

Prime Minister of Japan

Honorable Prime Minister,

We are writing to urge you to prevent a loan guarantee from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for the proposed atomic reactor project at the South Texas site in the U.S. state of Texas. Such a loan would entail extraordinary financial and social risk for the JBIC and the Japanese people.

All currently proposed reactor projects in the United States face a challenging economic environment caused by unfavorable market conditions; escalating projected construction costs; decreased electricity demand growth; low natural gas prices and increased competition from safe, clean renewable energy sources. With a deregulated, competitive power market and some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices in the country, Texas is a particularly risky U.S. state in which to invest in expensive new reactors.

The projected cost for the two South Texas reactors has increased from $5.6 billion in 2006 to as much as $18 billion today.¹ Last year, the City of San Antonio reduced its investment in the project by 85 percent because of the rising cost estimates. San Antonio’s municipal utility, CPS Energy, sued their partner NRG Energy (the loan guarantee applicant) for $32 billion, alleging fraud, illegal conduct, and conspiracy over cost estimates and citing NRG’s deals with outside partners. NRG has been desperately pursuing other municipal utilities to commit to purchase electricity from the proposed reactors by promising fixed priced energy and other incentives that would further undermine the economic viability of the project.

New nuclear reactors in Texas would produce energy at far higher costs than the market price of power in the state. An independent assessment conducted for Texas’ main grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) found that the cost of the South Texas reactors would exceed the revenue they would generate in the market by 33 to 52 percent.²

Texas has a host of lower-cost alternatives, especially wind and natural gas, that will continue to meet the need for electricity. Texas is the number one wind market in the United States with more than 8,000MW in service. Natural gas reserves are adequate for 100 years, thus assuring low-cost energy for a long time. A 2010 analysis done for ERCOT projects per kilowatt capital costs for solar power to already be cheaper than nuclear power in Texas―a cost advantage that is projected to grow wider under every possible scenario envisioned.³ Currently, the average wholesale cost for electricity in Texas is 3.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, while electricity from new reactors with capital costs in South Texas’ range is estimated to cost between 12 cents to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour. Moreover, the large projected increases in electricity demand made just a few years ago – which served as the basis for many new reactor proposals – are now highly unlikely to be reached for another decade or more. This is partly due to the U.S. recession, of course, but also due to increasing energy efficiency throughout the U.S. economy.

Due to Japanese corporate involvement in the proposed South Texas reactor project, it might appear that it would make a good investment. The reality, however, is that the projects involving Japanese companies will suffer the same delays, design problems, financial difficulties and determined public opposition as other proposed nuclear projects.

Moreover, the history of U.S. nuclear reactor construction does not provide room for optimism. According to a 1986 study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average cost overrun of the first 75 U.S. nuclear reactor projects was 207 percent – or more than triple the original estimated cost.⁴ The cost overruns of the last 50 reactors built in the U.S. were even higher, reaching as much as 800% over-budget. Such extraordinary cost overruns led to multi-billion-dollar bond defaults, utility bankruptcy, and significant financial losses by utilities. Nothing in the U.S. experience suggests that new reactor projects will be any more successful at containing costs than past projects.

Just as we have warned American taxpayers and elected officials about these very serious financial risks, we also urge you to very carefully consider these risks before deciding to invest in new reactors in the United States. We respectfully suggest that Japanese taxpayers would not want to lose money on a U.S. reactor project. Nor would U.S. taxpayers want to bail out JBIC when the predictable losses occur. Such outcomes would obviously be uncomfortable on both sides of the Pacific.

cc:

Mr Banri Kaieda
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry

Mr Yoshihiko Noda
Minister of Finance

Mr Koichiro Gemba
Minister for National Policy

For a list of signatories, please see PDF:
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/internal/110224_japanstexasletter.pdf

---

References

1. Nuclear Expansion could cost $18.2 billon, San Antonio Express-News, December 23, 2009

2. Potomac Economics, LTD., Independent Market Monitor for the ERCOT Wholesale Market, 2009 State of the Market Report for the ERCOT Wholesale Electricity Markets, July 2010,
http://www.puc.state.tx.us/wmo/documents/annual_reports/2009annualreport.pdf.

3. ERCOT Scenario Development Working Group, Scenario Assumptions Spreadsheet, , September 2010.
http://www.ercot.com/calendar/2010/09/20100910-SDWG

4. An Analysis of Nuclear Power Plant Construction Costs, January 1, 1986, Energy Information Administration, Technical Report DOE/EIA-0485

23 January 2011

Statement by Minamata Victims and Supporter Groups
Addressing the Government of Japan’s Proposal to
Call the Mercury Treaty the “Minamata Convention”

ta disease is an ongoing tragedy. As the global community negotiates the mercury treaty, the Japanese government must first confront the Minamata disease issue at home. After fifty-five years of struggling with the disaster, we are opposed to naming the mercury treaty the “Minamata Convention” until the tragedy is faced head on and a road map created for its genuine resolution. The Government of Japan must make clear what was learned from Minamata, implement the lessons learned and, before the diplomatic conference in 2013, reexamine its policies and make concrete progress toward a genuine resolution of the elements described below.

The Government of Japan must implement the following with integrity:

1. Clarify the full extent of damage caused by Minamata disease

Although it has been 55 years since the official discovery of Minamata disease, the full extent of the actual damage is yet to be clarified. Not only is it absolutely necessary to undertake health studies of the entire contaminated region of the Shiranui Sea, follow up studies must continue for the residents living in this contaminated area. Recently, research has shown that children are affected by mercury contamination even at low levels of exposure. Therefore, it is also necessary to implement studies and measures based on these findings.

2. Compensate all victims

The Supreme Court verdict of October 2004 established the legal responsibility of the Government of Japan and Kumamoto prefecture for spreading Minamata disease. The Osaka District Court verdict found that the criteria established by the Government of Japan in 1977 to certify victims of Minamata disease “had no medical basis.” The Government of Japan must respect these legal decisions and recognize all victims as Minamata disease victims, and, compensate them.

3. Instead of protecting the polluting company, ensure full implementation of the “Polluter Pays Principle”

Under the Minamata Disease Victim Relief Law enacted in July 2009, the polluting company Chisso Corporation has been allowed to split into two companies, and this process is moving forward. The polluting company must not be allowed to escape its legal responsibility. The offender must be made to fulfill its responsibilities as the polluting company.

4. Clean up the Minamata Bay and Shiranui Sea mercury contamination

Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea were contaminated as a result of several hundred tons of mercury emitted by the Chisso Corporation’s Minamata factory. There are numerous contaminated areas existing within the city of Minamata. Thorough decontamination of these contaminated areas is essential. Also, the existing landfill of part of Minamata Bay is only a temporary storage area for the toxic methylmercury and cannot be considered final decontamination of the area. It would be a travesty to hold the ceremony for a “Minamata Convention” at the very place where massive mercury contamination is being ignored.

5. Establish a health and welfare system so that victims can live secure lives within their society

There are so many victims, including congenital Minamata disease victims, who are living their daily lives in anxiety, worrying about the situation concerning the health and welfare system in the areas where they live. Monetary compensation alone does not solve the problems victims encounter. It is absolutely necessary to have a health and welfare system that victims battling with their own illness and victims continuing to nurse seriously ill victims can feel secure about.

Implementation of the above is not just an issue for Minamata alone. Beginning with Niigata, Japan, which fell victim to the second Minamata disease, there are innumerable locations around the world contaminated with mercury, and even more in the process of being contaminated. We believe that if the mercury treaty learns the lessons of Minamata, then it will indeed be a treaty of great significance. The tragedy of Minamata was the result of eating fish contaminated with mercury. We the undersigned fervently hope for a strong global treaty, which will significantly decrease mercury contamination worldwide so that fish are once again safe to eat.

---

Signatures

• Minamata Disease Mutual Aid Society
• Association of Minamata Disease Victims “SHIRANUI”
• Minamata Disease Victimsʼ Mutual Aid Society
• The Collaboration Center for Minamata Disease Victims (NPO)
• Solidarity Network Asia and Minamata
• Green Action
• Organizing Committee “Symposium Addressing Chisso and Government of Japanʼs Minamata Disease Responsibility”
• Tokyo Association to Indict [Those Responsible for] Minamata Disease
• Editorial Office of “Support for Minamata” Magazine
• Minamata Disease Tokai Association
• Tokai Region Minamata Disease Victims and Familiesʼ Mutual Aid Society
• Nagoya Association to Indict [Those Responsible for] Minamata Disease
• Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)

---

Contact Information

Association of Minamata Disease Victims “SHIRANUI”
2-2-20 Sakurai-cho, Minamata City, Kumamoto 867-0045 Japan,
Tel/Fax +81-966-62-7502
Email: mdshiranui-v@friend.ocn.ne.jp

Minamata Disease Victims’ Mutual Aid Society
108 Nanpukuji, Minamata, Kumamoto 867-0023 Japan,
Tel/Fax +81-966-63-8779
Email: ezg01444@nifty.ne.jp

---

Honoring Minamata – International Solidarity Statement In Support of Minamata Victims’ Groups

Japan Civil Network for the CBD
“A Nuclear Plant in Biodiversity Hotspot”

http://webcast.cop10.go.jp/player.asp?id=1919&type=ondemand

COP 10 Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya, Japan)

This is the English original of a PowerPoint presentation by Mycle Schneider* to Japanese Diet members and staff. The briefing was held in the House of Councillors Office Building (Tokyo, Japan) on 13 October 2010.

The meeting was organized by Green Action, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, and Gensuikin.

See Green Action Japanese site for Japanese translation:
URL: http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/japanese/index.php?id=27

*Mycle Schneider Consulting—Independent Analysis on Energy and Nuclear Policy

Lessons from System Analysis of Energy Policy
in the US, France and Germany
Is Pursuing both
Renewables and Nuclear Feasible?
Download PDF version (4.5 MB)