Anti-Nuclear Demo Scheduled for Sunday, April 10 in Koenji, Tokyo

Via  Time Out Tokyo:

Japanese anti-nuclear demos aren't unusual, but they've never been very well attended. Until now, that is. A protest march in Ginza on March 27, campaigning against nuclear power, saw around 1,200 people turn out to express their displeasure - hardly the vast swathes you'd expect in other world capitals, but around 40 times more than the monthly gathering usually attracts (a hardcore gang of 30). Similarly, a March 20 protest in Shibuya attracted 1,000 disgruntled protesters.

The biggest yet, or so the organisers hope, will be the Hangenbatsu Choukyodai Demo (literally, the 'Anti-Nuclear Power Plants Super Huge Demo'), taking place in Koenji Chuo Park on April 10. The event looks like being part protest, part rock concert, part charity event. The line-up features DJs Axeman and Yahman, MCs Rankin Taxi and Rumi, and live bands including Jintara-Mvta, a raucous big band that includes members of Cicala-Mvta, Soul Flower Union and others. The event will kick off at 2pm, and the concert/demo will run between 3pm and 5pm, at which point the audience is encouraged to move to the Koenji Kitaguchi Hiroba area to donate money.

The cash will go partly towards supporting the people of Koenji's sister city Minami Souma, a town located within the 30km Fukushima evacuation zone, and partly to the Sendai Birdland, a charity collective made up of musicians who are actively involved in getting supplies to Tohoku.

See the website of the April 10th 'Stop Nuclear Power Plants! Global Action Day' for more information about the Koenji event, as well as information in various languages regarding solidarity demonstrations taking place on the same day in locales around the world, including Canada, France, Germany, Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dear Peace Not War Japan supporters and Everyone Who Attended Spring Love Harukaze,

Dear Peace Not War Japan supporters and Everyone Who Attended Spring Love Harukaze,

Many thanks to those of you who came out to Yoyogi Park last weekend for the Spring Love Harukaze 2011 event to pay your respects to the victims of the Eastern Japan Great Earthquake, as well as contribute to disaster relief, hear a lineup of speakers on nuclear power-related issues, and enjoy the great food and music.

Thanks to everyone's donations, we were able to raise a total of ¥225,941 for disaster relief over the course of the weekend.

We will be posting information shortly on the official event website (regarding which organizations the money will be distributed to. We offer our deepest thanks to everyone who came out to the event and contributed!

An article with event highlights may be read at TTT and Facebook.

We will keep you posted regarding upcoming events, and wish you all the very best in the meantime.

With thanks and hope,

Peace Not War Japan organizers
Hiroshi Fukui, Kimberly Hughes, Miho Yazawa




Subject: Spring Love春風のイベントご報告
Peace Not War Japanのサポーターのみなさまへ、

４月２日〜３日、「Spring Love春風2011」のために、代々木公園
まで足を運んで下さったみなさま、どうもありがとうございました。

みさまからの義援金は、春風両日合わせまして、２２５，９４１円に
なりました。災害の支援を行っているNGOなどの寄付先については、
後日イベントのHPにてご報告させていただきます：
（ http://www.facebook.com/l/0be28WTf7P25ZmeYHdL9xyJmBUg/www.balance-web.com/harukaze/index.html）
ご協力誠にありがとうございました。

なお、イベントの様子がイベントのUStreamページにてご覧になれます（原発問題についてのスピーカーのビデオへのリンクも含む）：
http://www.facebook.com/l/0be28EGe74CdG9qdQ645HvYM6XQ/www.ustream.tv/channel/balance-stream

あと、この記事（英語）もご覧ください：

http://www.facebook.com/l/0be28UXp_C0tlSC4b5Lh-t1ji4A/tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blogspot.com/2011/04/tokyo-art-and-music-event-mourns.html

これからも、イベントのお知らせをさせて頂きますので、ぜひその時はご参加ください。

感謝と希望を込めて、

Peace Not War Japan運営委員
（福井浩、キンバリーヒューズ、矢澤実穂）

Greenpeace: Field team finds high levels of contamination outside of Fukushima evacuation zone; calls to widen evacuation

Image - Radiation expert Rianne Teule checks crops for contamination  (© Christian Åslund. Photo: Greenpeace)
Greenpeace: "Field team finds high levels of contamination outside of Fukushima evacuation zone":

Our radiation monitoring teams have discovered high levels of contamination in crops grown on the outskirts of Minamisoma city in Japan. The data was collected from the gardens of Minamisoma city residents, and registered well over the official limits for spinach and other vegetables. This is bad news amid already serious concerns over the health risks to residents and a lack of official information from Japanese government.

“In several Minamisoma gardens, the vegetables were too contaminated for consumption,” reports Rianne Teule, who is leading our food testing team. “The owner of one garden with contaminated spinach told us that she had received no information from authorities on the radiation risks to her crops, despite reports that government tests on plants in Minamisoma have been underway since March 18.”

The government has been publishing raw data from its own field monitoring. However, its assessment is far from comprehensive. Measurements taken by our radiation team in several parts of Minamisoma city show levels of up to 4.5 microSievert per hour, as opposed to the relatively low levels of 0.7 microSievert per hour recorded at the only official monitoring point in Minamisoma City.

While the Japanese government’s data might not be incorrect, it doesn’t actually give the public the full picture, nor does it adequately protect the health of people in Minamisoma. The people in Minamisoma have been advised to stay indoors or told they can leave on a voluntary basis. However, our measurements, which were taken between government monitoring points, show levels of contamination that indicate a risk to health and safety.

Our field monitoring team met with the Mayor of Minamisoma, Katsunobu Sakurai. He expressed his frustration, citing a lack of reliable information or clear advice from TEPCO and the authorities regarding risks this crisis poses to his community.

“TEPCO has been irresponsible. This was clearly demonstrated when it took 11 days for it to speak to us after the accident. The government has also not supplied us with any kind of report that we can understand,” said Sakurai. “We are asking the government to not only supply enough information about what has happened, but also that it guarantee that it will respond responsibly to possible future risks.”

Read the entire article and find more background here.

4.12 Global Day of Action on Military Spending (４月１２日：軍事予算を考える世界アクションデイ)

More than 100 endorsers have planned 90 events in 35 countries (including Okinawa) for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) coming up on April 12, 2011.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military spending (arms and operations) skyrocketed to $1,531 billion in 2009 (a 5.9% rise in real terms from 2008) — despite worldwide economic decline, rising unemployment, poverty, and hunger rates. Moreover, military spending has been on a steady upward curve for the past decade: national governments spent nearly 50% more in 2010 on arms and military operations than they did in 2000.

The U.S. and Japanese governments, both indebted, continue to borrow heavily to cover increased military spending every year. Recently the U.S. national debt passed $14 trillion for the first time in history. This represents about 93% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). The U.S. government's leading creditor is China, considered a military "threat," thus Washington is borrowing from a "threat" to arm itself against the same "threat." (Beijing's military budget is only one-sixth of Washington's military spending (half of global military expenditures.) The Japanese national government debt now stands about US$11.35 trillion (9.25 trillion yen. This represents approximately 220% of Japan's GDP.

In 2010, Washington's total military spending catapulted to over $1 trillion annually. Besides the Department of Defense’s yearly budget, ($550 billion (which Obama increased to $708 billion in 2011), the U.S. also spent $160 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; $122 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs; $65.3 billion for defense-related international affairs;; $43.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security; $26 billion on defense-related expenses by the Department of the Treasury; nearly $19 billion spent by the Department of Energy for nuclear weapons; $7.6 billion on miscellaneous accounts related to the common defense; and $53.4 billion for interest on the Pentagon’s healthcare fund and defense portion of the national debt. The U.S. military, the world's largest purchaser and consumer of oil, spent $13.4 billion on fuel last year. The Pentagon spent $4.7 billion on public relations and media (employing 27,000 people, a staff nearly as large as the 30,000-person State Department) in 2009.

In 2009, Tokyo's military budget was 4.774 trillion yen. Japanese taxpayers provides financial support 75% of the costs of 130 U.S. military facilities employing 40,000 soldiers throughout Japan in its host-country support budget (formerly known as omoiyari yosan ("sympathy budget")). The sympathy budget pays for base construction; base renovations; salaries of the Japanese employees working in the bases (including at golf courses, bowling alleys and other entertainment facilities); heating, electricity and water; and even dry-cleaning charges of military families.

American and Japanese taxpayers can't afford this level of ever-increasing national debt to pay for ever-increasing military spending. They are paying the price, along with citizens worldwide, in deteriorating national infrastructures and a plummeting quality of life. The Global Day of Action on Military Spending is about raising awareness on military spending and fostering public dialogue about priorities and how we want to co-create our future.


(Locations of worldwide GDAMS events)

GDAMS: Military Spending vs. Millennium Development Goals:

With less than one fifth of global military spending, we can: 世界の軍事支出の５分の１以下の予算で国連の「ミレニウム開発目標」（MDGｓ）の予算を賄うことができます。（下記のグラフ参照：４月１２日、世界の軍事予算を考えるアクション・デイのウェブサイトより）４月１２日のアクションへの案内の日本語訳も下方をご覧ください。

• Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty　極度の貧困と飢餓の撲滅

• Achieve universal primary education & promote equality and empower women　普遍的な初等教育の達成、ジェンダーの平等の推進と女性の地位向上

• Reduce child mortality and improve maternal health　幼児死亡率の引き下げ

• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 妊産婦の健康状態の改善

• Ensure environmental sustainability　HIV/エイズ、マラリア、その他の疾病の蔓延防止

• Develop global partnership for development 開発のためのグローバル・パートナーシップの構築

The following graphs demonstrate the extent to which military spending eclipses all other global priorities. The estimated cost of compliance with all eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals – eradicating hunger, universal primary education, child mortality reduction, disease prevention, environmental sustainability, and global development – are all eclipsed by yearly military spending figures.



In fact, all eight MDGs combined cost less than a fifth of yearly military spending.

In 2009, global military spending surged to an all-time high of US $1.53 trillion. Given the numerous crises facing the planet — economic, environmental, health, diplomatic — it is imperative that we create a global movement to shift this money to human needs. We know that there are thousands of organizations and millions of individuals who support this point of view – what is needed is to begin a serious mobilizing effort to make it visible.

As part of this campaign, we propose a Global Day of Action on Military Spending for April 12, 2011 to coincide with the release of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual report, which will include new figures on military expenditures. On this day, people all over the world will join together in joint actions to focus public, political, and media attention on the costs of military spending and the need for new priorities. Such events will help us to build the international network around this issue.

While each location will craft its own approach, we hope there will be a common focus on calling attention to the overall size of global military spending. This would need in most cases to be linked to a related national (or local) issue, such as the Afghanistan war, anti-bases efforts, arms trade deals, work against small arms, resources for nonviolent conflict resolution, Article 9 campaign etc. We very much hope that peace groups will use this as an opportunity to connect up with anti-poverty, environmental, pro-democracy organizations and others who share our perspective.

As for types of actions: a whole range is possible! — from street theatre/demonstrations and erecting banners to seminars, signature collection and much more. Many slogans come to mind: What Would You Do With $1.5 Trillion? $1.5 Trillion Is Insane! Trillions for War or Trillions for Peace? etc. We plan to issue a Toolkit before long to assist organizers. A key aspect is the visual side. By generating some captivating images, we plan to attract widespread media coverage and make available photos of our rallies and events. We will compile an album of pictures from around the world and post them online to document the global movement and to use to accompany stories about the SIPRI report and our own actions.

We have commitments from organizations in the United States (in Washington, New York, Boston, Western Massachusetts, the Bay Area, Maine and Honolulu) as well as South Korea, Switzerland, South Africa, Lebanon, the Philippines, and Greece. Can we add you to our list?

To find out more, Global Action Day on Military Spending

予告：軍事費についてのグローバル行動日：2011年4月12日

軍事費の即時削減を！

グローバル行動日へのおさそい

2009年に、世界の軍事費支出は過去最高の1,53兆USドル（＝126.9兆円、$１＝￥83）に急増しました。地球が直面している多くの—経済、環境、健康、外交上の—危機を考えれば、この支出を我々人間が必要するものへと移すためのグローバルな運動を創出することは急務です。我々にはこの考えを支持する団体が数千、個人が数百万いることはわかっています―必要なことは、それを目に見えるものにするため、本気で結集する努力を始めることです。

このキャンペーンの一部として我々は、ストックホルム国際平和リサーチ研究所の年次報告の発表と同時期になるよう2011年4月12日、軍事費についてのグローバル行動日を設けることを提案します、というのはその報告書が軍事費支出に関して新たな数字を含むことになるからです。この日世界中の人々は一緒になって、一般人の、政治の、メディアの関心を軍事支出経費という新たな優先順位の必要性に向けるための共同行動に参加します。そのようなイベントはこの問題に取り組む国際ネットワークを我々が築く手助けとなるでしょう。

各地がそれ自身のアプローチを考案する一方で、グローバルな軍事支出の全体的規模に注意を呼ぶことに共通の焦点が置かれることを我々は期待します。これは大抵の場合には、関連した国内（あるいは地域の）問題、たとえばアフガン戦、反基地運動、武器取引協、小型武器反対運動、非暴力による紛争解決のリソース、日本の憲法9条キャンペーンなどに関連づけることが必要でしょう。我々は平和運動団体がこの日を、我々とものの見方を共有する反貧困、環境、民主主義擁護の団体と団結する機会として利用することを大いに期待します。

どんな運動をするかについては：あらゆることが可能です！--街頭劇やデモ、バナー設置、セミナー、署名活動など。多くのスローガンが浮かびます：1.5兆ドルあればあなたなら何をしますか？1.5兆ドルは正気じゃない！戦争に数兆ドルがいいかそれとも平和に数兆ドルがいいか？など。我々はオーガナイザーを支援するため、組織化用ツール一式をまもなく発表するつもりです。主要な側面はビジュアル化です。人心を捕らえるイメージを生み出すことで、我々は広範なメディア報道を惹きつけ、我々の行う集会やイベントの写真を入手可能にするつもりです。我々は世界中から届く写真のアルバムを作成し、オンラインでそれらを掲載して、このグローバル運動を文書化し、ストックホルム国際平和リサーチ研究所（SIPRI）報告と我々自身のアクションに伴う記事を掲載するのに使います。

それはエキサイティングで大切な企画であるということに皆さんが同意してくれるのを期待します。平和運動を指導しているひとりとして、我々は皆さんとそのグループが、それぞれお住まいの地域で（共同）後援することによりこの運動に参加して頂きたいと思います。我々は皆さんの地域で皆さんと共同してこの運動を行う人々を探す手伝いができますが、まずは皆さんたちの名前と連絡手段をリスト化して広範な人々に送る資料にしたいと思います。その資料をまもなくお送りして、参加に興味があるかどうか確認したいと思います。質問があれば遠慮なくコンタクトをお願いします。

現在、韓国、スイス、英国、ベルギー、マレーシア、インド、日本、アイルランド、ウガンダ、フィリッピン、ギリシャに加えて、米国（ワシントン、ボストン、マサチューセッツ西部、サンフランシスコ、オークランド、ニューヨーク、メイン、ヴァージニア、イリノイ）の団体が関わっています。みなさんもこのリストに加わってもらえませんか？

公式ウェブサイトはここです。

連絡先：GDAMS2011@GMAIL.COM.

Sincerely,

John Feffer ジョン・フェファー
Institute for Policy Studies
Washington, DC
johnfeffer@gmail.com
http://www.ips-dc.org/

Colin Archer　コリン・アーチャー
International Peace Bureau
Geneva
secgen@ipb.org
http://www.ipb.org/

Tokyo art and music event mourns disaster victims, raises seriousness of nuclear power and radiation issues

Spring Love Harukaze, a much-loved outdoor event in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, turned three-years-old this past weekend. While again featuring some of Tokyo’s top musicians and DJ talents, as well as the blooming sakura (cherry trees), the weekend’s event was considerably more muted in tone compared to the past two years due to the recent Eastern Japan Great Earthquake.

One of the major aims of Spring Love Harukaze 2011 was to raise money for survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Collection boxes placed around the event grounds brought in a total of just under 226,000 yen (around $2650 USD), which will be distributed to NGOs involved in on-the-ground disaster relief.

Throughout the day, festival-goers decorated small posters with drawings and messages that were displayed during a candlelight ceremony held at sundown on Saturday to mourn victims who lost their lives in the tragedy. Gospel singer (and event chairperson) Yuka Kamebuchi and her ensemble VOJA (Voices of Japan) also sang a moving requiem for the victims, encouraging audience members to sing along to classics including Amazing Grace and You’ll Never Walk Alone.

In order to address worries regarding the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, several speakers were also invited to participate in panel discussions regarding issues of nuclear power and radiation exposure. Filmmaker Hitomi Kamanaka, whose trilogy of documentaries to date (Hibakusha: At the End of the World, Rokkasho-mura Rhapsody, and From Ashes to Honey) all address these issues from various perspectives, gave an impassioned talk whereby she accused TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and Japanese government officials of deliberately covering up information regarding the accident.

“The industry has long been releasing propaganda saying that nuclear power is safe, and now, following the accident, they have continued with the same lies by declaring that the radiation being released is also nothing to worry about,” she said. “People prefer to believe the propaganda because it’s easier, but unless they face reality, they won’t be able to protect themselves.

“Here in Japan, we have been led to believe that the matter of electricity simply involves flipping on a switch, and people do not think about where it comes from,” she explained. My latest film takes up the issue of the radiation emitted from nuclear power plants on a regular basis—as well as during accidents like the one we are now experiencing—which is something that people here have not been educated about whatsoever.”

Kamanaka’s latest documentary, From Ashes to Honey, takes an in-depth look at the decades-long struggle on Iwaishima island to stop construction of the proposed Kaminoseki nuclear power plant along Japan’s gorgeous Seto Island Sea coast. “Although the Chugoku Electric Power Company promised to stop construction following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, they didn’t even wait a full day before resuming dynamite explosions at the plant site,” she lamented.

She went on to mention that nuclear radiation released into the ocean is not safe as we are led to believe by industry officials, since it makes its way back up the food chain—a particularly disturbing fact in light of today’s news regarding TEPCO’s dumping 10,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. The full discussion (in Japanese) may be watched via the Spring Love Harukaze UStream channel (click here for part one and here for part two). An excellent interview with the filmmaker following the recent disaster, where she expresses the complex feelings of sadness of anger shared by many in Japan's longstanding anti-nuclear movement who have long been predicting that a disaster similar to the Fukushima one would occur, may be read here.

Adding a more spiritual element to the event, Hawaiian hula master (and former rock star) Sandii—an artist with a stunning stage presence who appeared with her band and her hula dancers as the final act at last year’s Spring Love Harukaze event—appeared onstage for a brief and yet powerful performance.

“There is a reason why each one of us was here in Japan when this tragedy occurred, and it is now up to each one of us who has survived to learn the lessons of our soul while thinking deeply about what is really important,” she said. “Our thinking truly does create the future, and so it is extremely important that we cultivate positive thoughts.” She went on to describe the existence of an energy source in the universe from which we can draw inspiration and healing, before singing a gorgeous chant which she explained connected this universal energy together with that of the earth.


Sandii
The theme of positivity was one that was echoed by the 100% Love and Peace Parade, an event originating in France that took place on Sunday morning in conjunction with Spring Love Harukaze. Dressed in colorful costumes and exuding lively energy, the parade-goers finished their route through the streets of Harajuku and Shibuya to end up in Yoyogi park stage, dancing first on the main stage and then moving through the event grounds in order to collect more donations for disaster relief.

100% Love and Peace Parade-goers
The event finished with words from organizers, as well as the following powerful messages from support that were received from overseas:

My heart has been broken over and over by the recent devastation in northern Japan. But it's also been busted wide open by the *grace* and collective generosity you modeled to the world. Many of us in the US have been deeply humbled, inspired and our hearts made tender because of this. And yes, this is why Japan will rise again - cleaner (energy), stronger, wiser and brighter than ever before! Japan, we are holding the light for you from this shore to yours.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (Lakota translation "to all my relations"),

Marie Kyoko Morohoshi
RealGreen Power, San Francisco

To the People of Japan,

I am writing to you from San Francisco, California. You are far away but you are very close. You are my relations, my family of humanity. The air you breathe becomes the air I breathe; the waters of your oceans ebb and flow on the shores of our beaches. You are not alone. This time for all of humanity and our planet is a huge time of transformation. I feel sorrow for your loss and suffering, and gratitude for all you are giving as our Mother Earth speaks from her heart. We are all in this together; let us bring healing to our planet and the human race.

We are over here sending you love, blessings, and healing. Saturday April 16th we will be playing taiko in an amazing benefit concert for Japan, May 5th again a different benefit for Japan...they are happening all over. We send you that heartbeat. One heart. Let us come together! Stay strong in Spirit, my friends.

Love and Blessings, All My Relations,

Debbie Taylor

Our deepest condolences to all people in Japan affected by the disaster. Berlin Soundstrike is an initiative of international artists against racism, wars and environmental destruction that was formed in 2010 in the USA by the rock band Rage Against the Machine, and is backed by civil rights organizations and individuals. We would like to express our solidarity with the people in Japan.

As human beings we sometimes have to endure the most terrible of natural disasters--but we must never tolerate the most inhumane technology ever developed and forced upon us. We need to realize the existence of an extremely powerful international military industrial complex, which is directly responsible for the proliferation of nuclear power around the globe, as well as nuclear weapons and the ongoing wars in which even cancer-causing depleted uranium munitions are being used.

This all is posing a terrible and imminent threat to the planet and to humankind. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki the majority of the population in both Japan and Germany were strongly against any nuclear arms. But against our will and our relentless protests, many nuclear arms are now stationed in both countries and many nuclear power plants have been built.

At this important crossroads in history, we as members of the international art community need to all stand in solidarity and raise our voices to demand fundamental change and an immediate end to this nuclear madness. In solidarity we stand with Japan!

Disaster relief collection boxes at Spring Love Harukaze,  decorated with sakura-adorned official event postcards


Festival-goers decorate banner with anti-nuclear power message
Watch this site for more coverage on the nuclear crisis — and the response of citizen activists — as it continues to unfold.

- Kimberly Hughes

4.3 Jeju Island: 1948 & Now

Child survivors made homeless by the 4/3 Jeju Island massacre, May 1948.
(Photo: The Asia Pacific Journal)


April 3, 2011 march in Jeju City against state seizure of homes and farms to make way for a naval base at Gangjeong. (Photo: Media Jeju via No Base Stories Korea)
The ongoing conflict between the South Korean government and Jeju residents over state seizure of private property and forced construction of a nuclear naval base on Jeju Island has opened unhealed decades-old wounds. Following brutal Japanese military rule, from August 15, 1945 to August 15, 1948, the United States Army Military Government (USAMGIK) was the sole legal authority in Korea south of the thirty-eighth parallel. (Under secret protocols, the U.S. also had operational control of the South Korean armed forces and national police from August 15, 1948 to June 30, 1949.)

Similarly to former Japanese military rule, South Korean security forces under U.S. jurisdiction brutally repressed Jeju Islanders who protested horrific living conditions and political subjugation, including the U.S.-sponsored "South only" elections to be held in May, 1948. When protests escalated into a popular uprising, security forces retaliated with mass killings and destruction of homes and villages on April 3, 1948. Peace Island, a journal published by Jeju University's Institute of Peace Studies, described conditions across Jeju in the 1940's:

...struck by infectious diseases, years of famine, lack of basic foods, and a high unemployment rate.

Jeju Weekly reported:

Most people know that this hauntingly beautiful island earned UNESCO World Natural Heritage status, but what fewer know is the fact that, after the 1950 Korean War, April 3, 1948 was the largest massacre in Korea's modern history. Scars of the onslaught are omnipresent on the island. Oreum seen everywhere on Jeju are not only secondary volcanic cones, but are also often the graveyard of many souls.

More than half of Jeju Island's villages were destroyed and between 30-60,000 people killed. 40,000 Jeju Islanders sought refuge in Japan; survivors, descendants, and family members still live in Osaka's "Jeju Town." ((Osaka-born novelist Kim Suok Puom, whose family originated in Jeju Island, explored human and historical contexts of the uprising and massacre in his novel, Volcano Island.)

For decades afterwards the South Korean military dictatorship silenced any mention of the 3.4 killings on Jeju Island. However after President Rhee resigned following the April 19, 1960 Student Uprising, surviving families began to speak out, according to Kim Dong choon in "The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea: Uncovering the Hidden Korean War" published at The Asia-Pacific Journal on March 10, 2010:

The Jeju April 3 incident of 1948 occurred shortly before the first general election, and was unique in the number of victims, and the lasting effect on the Jeju Island. Embedded in a strong collective regional identity, the Jeju people’s tragedy became a popular theme for novels and poems.

...the Jeju Incident succeeded in drawing the active support of intellectuals and activists and received wide local media attention. Its historical importance in the road to the establishment of the divided governments in the Korean peninsula and the strong sense of collective victimization of Jeju people contributed to making it a national agenda after democratization. The transformation of the political and ideological landscape conditioned by democratization, along with supporters petitioning for reconciliation, emboldened the surviving families to divulge their stories.

Scholars and journalists have confirmed that most of the victims of the Incident were innocent civilians, whose stories are now told in the April 3 Peace Park and Memorial Museum which opened in 2008...


Prayers at the wall inscribing the names of the estimated 30,000 Jeju victims in the Jeju Peace Memorial Park. (Photo: The Asia-Pacific Journal)
The Jeju committee also completed its investigation and began preparing for reconciliation. However, doubts remain as to whether the Jeju committee can fully reveal the truth of the Jeju Massacres and and identities of the victims.

The most sensitive investigation has involved the role of the U.S. military during counterinsurgency operations against rebel forces. While the final report failed to confirm or spell out a U.S. role, it concluded that 86% of the 14,373 deaths reported were committed by security forces including the National Guard, National Police, and rightist groups.

In 2000, Seoul passed a Special Law to investigate and report the truth of what happened at Jeju Island in 1948. A final law, "Restoring the Honor of the Victims," was enacted to restore the honor of victims who had long been branded communists. Since 2005, Jeju has been described as "Peace Island." On April 3, 2006, President Roh Mu‐hyun visited Jeju and officially apologized for the abuses perpetrated by the previous government and expressed his condolences to victims and their descendants still living on Jeju Island.

Now the Lee administration is undoing this long-overdue redress. By forcibly removing the villagers of Gangjeong, on the island's southern coast, and seizing ancestral land to construct a nuclear naval base against the villagers' democratically expressed and unanimous choice, Seoul has resurrected undemocratic, militaristic practices of South Korea's postwar dictatorship and reopened the wounds of April 3, 1948.

Peace & justice blogger Sung-Hee Choi describes the commemoration:

The island-level memorial ceremony, Jeju 4.3, was held in pouring rain at the Jeju Peace Memorial Park at 11am, April 3. Despite the criticism of Jeju Islanders, President Lee Myung-Bak did not come and instead the prime minister came who made clear the government’s will to forcefully drive the naval base construction in the Gangjeong village, to the fury of the villagers.

A 4.3 documentary movie on the testimony of victims, Red Hunter, was screened at the village ceremony hall in the Gangjeong village in the evening. The Life and Peace Fellowship organized the screening event. Cho Sung-Bong, the director, talked about his personnel struggle against Lee Myung-Bak government’s river project being constructed in his hometown, Goorye, Jeolla province.

Film critic Yang Yoon-Mo said that 4.3 was special for him because it was one of his grandmother’s brothers had been one of the first victims of police killings during the March 1 independence protest in 1948, which developed into the Jeju uprising on April 3, 1948. He expressed his resolute decision to fight against naval base construction which can be called as the second 4. 3. Many people resonated to his remarks.

(Photo: Media Jeju)
University of Chicago historian Bruce Cumings revealed details of the 1948 Jeju massacre in a paper presented at the 50th Anniversary Conference of the April 3, 1948 Chejudo Rebellion, Tokyo, March 14, 1998: '"The Question of American Responsibility for the Suppression of the Chejudo Uprising", concluding:

The primary cause of the South Korean insurgency was the social inequity of land relations and the huge gap between a tiny elite of the rich and the vast majority of the poor. The North Koreans were barely involved, and indeed the strongest leftwing regions were precisely those furthest from the 38th parallel.

But on Cheju Island these same conditions were inflamed by a brutal Japanese occupation that led to a vast uprooting of the population, the simple justice of the popular administration that took effective power on the island in 1945 and held it until 1948, and the elemental injustice of the mainlander dictatorship that Syngman Rhee imposed and that the American legal authorities did nothing about--except to aid and abet it.

If it should come to pass that any Koreans succeed in gaining compensation from the American Government for the events of 1945 to 1953, certainly the people of Cheju should come first. For it was on that hauntingly beautiful island that the postwar world first witnessed the American capacity for unrestrained violence against indigenous peoples fighting for self-determination and social justice.

As in 1948, Indigenous residents of Jeju Island are again fighting for self-determination, democratic process, and the right to a peaceful existence. They are also fighting for their land, sea, and livelihoood at Gangjeong Village.

For more photos and voices on the 4/3/11 commemorative resistance in Jeju Island, see Sung-Hee Choi's post, "Workers marched amidst rain opposing Jeju naval base construction, upon the 63th 4.3 memorial day/ Rep. of DLP Party visits Gangjeong."

Green Action: Petition to Support Japanese People, Expand Evacuation Zone

On March 28, 2011, more than 168 citizens organizations in Japan submitted a petition to the Kan administration calling for an expanded evacuation zone near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site and other urgent measures to protect public health and safety.

The official evacuation zone remains only 20 kilometers (12 miles) and the government has encouraged people within only 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to evacuate. Yet levels of cesium-137 in the village of Iitate, for example, have been measured at more than twice the levels that prompted the former USSR to evacuate people near Chernobyl. Iitate is 40 kilometers (24 miles) northwest of Fukushima. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended a 50-mile evacuation zone for U.S. citizens in Japan.

The people of Japan are now asking for international support for their petition. Please sign by going to the Green Action site here: http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/petition/

Spring Love Harukaze: Charity Event for the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake

After much deliberation, the organizing committee of urban party Spring Love Harukaze 2011 has decided to hold the event this year as scheduled, although with various changes compared to the 2009 and 2010 events in light of the recent disaster. The event will take place in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park (outdoor stage/event space) on April 2-3, 2011.

As everyone is aware, the earthquake and tsunami have caused extensive damage in the region of eastern Japan. Peace Not War Japan, as one of the event's supporting organizations, sends our deepest condolences to those affected by the disaster, as well as our greatest hopes for continuing recovery.

In addition to the event's traditional themes of environmental, peace and human rights issues explored via music and art, the recent events have prompted the organizing committee to restructure this year's Spring Love Harukaze to focus upon fundraising for disaster relief for those in the affected areas. Moreover, the event will also include a lineup of speakers addressing the issue of nuclear power, which continues to cause worry in light of ongoing events at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.


Spring Love Harukaze 2011
** Rain or Shine! **

Event fee: Free (**Donation for disaster relief requested**)

Saturday, April 2nd, 1PM - sundown
"Day of Remembrance/Prayer"

☆ Remembrance for those killed in the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake
☆ Creation of an altar to pray for their souls to rest peacefully
☆ Requiem for victims sung by gospel ensemble Kamebuchi Yuka + VOJA
☆ Spring Stage: Acoustic performances and talk sessions
☆ Love Stage: Acoustic performances, talk sessions and DJs

【SPRING STAGE】　　

◎LIVE
　Yuka Kamebuchi &VOJA
　sandii
　Monsieur Kamayatsu ＋ Nagai HOTOKE Takashi ＋ Takashi Numazawa ＋ LEYONA
　RabiRabi
　ANBASSA
　火男

◎DJ
　DJ Yumii

◎Talk Session: Creating a positive future--alternative energies, food, nature

Masaru Kousaka (Organic bar owner)
Masako Sakata (director, organization to save Mt. Takao)

◎Stage Art：SHIGA SAYAKA

【LOVE STAGE】　

◎LIVE
　Ucoca
　Tonchi
　Wada Fusai

◎DJ
　Really?
　UECHI



Sunday, April 3rd
12PM - 8PM (possibility of stopping at sundown)
"Creating the Future Together"

☆ Spring Stage: Talk sessions and live performances
☆ Love Stage: Talk sessions, DJs, live performances
☆ Solar-powered "Unnamed Parade"
☆ Earth-Day Market along the tree-lined avenue 10AM-4PM (cancelled in case of rain) 　http://www.earthdaymarket.com/

【SPRING STAGE】　

◎LIVE
　Kosuke Tsuji + Takashi Numazawa + Kidonatsuki
　 + Kamiyann with Yoshie
　NAOITO
　Ryuta Koshino　
　100％LOVE&PEACE PARADE
　SUGEE feat.寂空

◎Talk Session: Nuclear power / alternatiave energies
　Hitomi Kamanaka （documentary filmmaker/video artist） 　

◎Stage Art：SHIGA SAYAKA

【LOVE STAGE】

◎LIVE

◎DJ

【The Unnamed Parade】
　Mighty Collaboration : 100％LOVE&PEACE PARADE

Additional Event Information:

☆ We ask that you please utilize public transportation (train, bus, etc.) in order to come to the event. (Please leave extra time, however, in case of scheduled blackouts.)

☆ This is a good opportunity to see friends that you have not seen since thedisaster, and to to enjoy each other's company while you take in the cherry blossoms, music, DJs and talk events. Due to continuing aftershocks and　the nuclear power plant situation, however, we ask that you please pay　attention to news reports before deciding whether to attend.

☆ Event updates will be available on our website:
　 http://www.balanceweb.com/harukaze/

Finally, we send our greatest thanks in advance to all artists, speakers, and event attendes for makng this year's event possible!!

Spring Love Harukaze 2011 Organizing Committee

An article with event highlights from 2010 is here.

Message from Organizing Committee:

Due to concerns regarding the use of electricity, fuel and other materials, we will help to direct these resources toward the areas where they are needed most by making this year's Spring Love Harukaze event as simple as possible and minimizing our environmental footprint wherever we can. On Saturday April 2nd (which will be a day of remembrance for those killed in the disaster), both the Spring and the Love stages will be run entirely on solar power, with all live performances being acoustic. The day's lineup will include a performance by gospel singer (and Spring Love Harukaze committee director) Yuka Kamebuchi, whose ensemble VOJA will sing an a capella requium for those whose lives were lost.

We are also aiming to reduce the costs for this year's event in order to direct as many funds as possible toward disaster relief. While we had originally planned to increase the number of stages and enlarge the children's area, we have revised these plans in light of the recent events. There will again be two stages and a kids area as in past years, and we will also attempt to provide as much warm, delicious food and drink service as possible. We ask for your understanding, however, regarding the fact that bench seating and lights at the event will be available only minimally. We ask, therefore, that those who attend the event please be responsible for bringing your own blankets, chairs, lights and candles.

We are presently researching which disaster relief organizations to send donations collected during the event, and will make this information available shortly on our website. http://www.balance-web.com/harukaze/

- Kimberly Hughes, Peace, not war Japan

Nuclear Ginza - 1995 UK Channel 4 documentary about Japanese nuclear plant worker radiation exposure

The workers in Fukushima are not the first to risk their lives working in Japanese nuclear plants. This documentary Nuclear Ginza, broadcast on Channel 4, UK, in 1995, reveals exploitation and suffering endured by nuclear plant workers in Japan.

In-depth background on the current situation of nuclear temporary workers by Paul Jobin: "Dying for TEPCO? Fukushima’s Nuclear Contract Workers" (APJ, May 2, 2011):

In the titanic struggle to bring to closure the dangerous situation at Fukushima Nuclear Plant No1, there are many signs that TEPCO is facing great difficulties in finding workers. At present, there are nearly 700 people at the site. As in ordinary times, workers rotate so as to limit the cumulative dose of radiation inherent in maintenance and cleanup work at the nuclear site...

But this time, the risks are greater, and the method of recruitment unusual.

Job offers come not from TEPCO but from Mizukami Kogyo, a company whose business is construction and cleaning maintenance. The description indicates only that the work is at a nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The job is specified as 3 hours per day at an hourly wage of 10,000 yen. There is no information about danger, only the suggestion to ask the employer for further details on food, lodging, transportation and insurance.

Those who answer these offers may have little awareness of the dangers and they are likely to have few other job opportunities. $122 an hour is hardly a king’s ransom given the risk of cancer from high radiation levels.  But TEPCO and NISA keep diffusing their usual propaganda to minimize the radiation risks.

Rumor has it that many of the cleanup workers are burakumin. This cannot be verified, but it would be congruent with the logic of the nuclear industry and the difficult job situation of day laborers. Because of ostracism, some burakumin are also involved with yakuza. Therefore, it would not be surprising that yakuza-burakumin recruit other burakumin to go to Fukushima. Yakuza are active in recruiting day laborers of the yoseba: Sanya in Tokyo, Kotobukicho in Yokohama, and Kamagasaki in Osaka. People who live in precarious conditions are then exposed to high levels of radiation, doing the most dirty and dangerous jobs in the nuclear plants, then are sent back to the yoseba. Those who fall ill will not even appear in the statistics.

Paul Jobin, "Fukushima One Year On: Nuclear workers and citizens at risk" (APJ, March 26, 2012):

Many prefer to turn a blind eye as it is reassuring to believe TEPCO’s nonsense and the nostrums provided by scholars associated with the nuclear lobby. But there is also a growing awareness of the problem, which can be observed for example through the vast mobilization in the region of Fukushima and Tokyo among citizens and on the Internet...

Temporary subcontract workers who have never entered a nuclear plant before probably have a very vague perception of these risks.

Paul Jobin, "The Roadmap for Fukushima Daiichi and the Sacrifice of Japan's Clean-up Workers 福島第一原発のロードマップと除染作業員" (July 15, 2013):

Public bids are now almost entirely controlled by the construction companies at the top (moto uke) and the yakuza at the bottom;

Though the Ministry of the Environment only authorizes two levels of subcontracting, in practice, the levels of subcontracting are even more numerous than at F1 and other nuclear plants. Between his own employer and Shimizu Construction, the moto uke, Masato has counted 24 levels;

Wage skimming is the norm and many workers only get a tiny portion—if any—of the 10,000 Yen hazard allowance;

The majority of workers receive no health insurance benefits from their employer and for many reasons they do not register for the national health insurance system on an individual basis.

In aftermath of natural disasters & during nuclear crisis, Tokyo moves to build deep-water ammunition port at Henoko

March 28, 2011 construction at Henoko and Oura Bay. (Photo: Henoko Hama Tsushin blog)
Tokyo is building more than a concrete wall at Henoko; it's building an underwater ammunition port is slated as all eyes are focused on helping the millions suffering during the aftermath of Japan's natural disasters and the ongoing nuclear crisis.

Tokyo's and Washington's flouting of Okinawan opposition during a national emergency reflects a profound disregard for democratic principles and for the Okinawan people. Moreover, spending billions of dollars of Japanese taxpayer money on an unnecessary, unwanted, and environmentally destructive U.S. military mega-base during Japan's biggest crisis since the Second World War, while millions are without electricity, water, medical supplies, and adequate food reflects a disregard for the welfare and future of all of Japan.

Postcard from...Henoko

By Jon Mitchell
Foreign Policy in Focus

The devil makes work for idle hands, but the people of Okinawa never guessed that the devil would act so quickly in the case of Kevin Maher. The day after the senior U.S. State Department official was fired for denigrating the islanders as lazy and manipulative, a massive earthquake struck the mainland - resulting in Maher’s overnight rehabilitation into one of Washington’s key players in its aid mission, Operation Tomodachi.

The Department of Defense has been busy all week feeding copy to the media on its undeniably heroic work in northern Japan. However that same press machine has been slower to report on another of its military projects currently underway in Maher’s former stomping ground of Okinawa. Since January 2011, the Okinawa Defense Bureau has been building a 50 million yen ($600,000) barrier between Camp Schwab and the public beach at Henoko. The concrete wall replaces the ribbon of barbed wire that became emblematic of the local residents’ seven-year sit-in movement to prevent the construction of a new air base over the fragile bay. Busloads of visiting school children used to tie messages of support to the wire, citizens’ groups hung banners - and the fence formed the backdrop for the annual Peace Music Festa.

Both the Japanese and US governments are remaining silent as to the purpose of its new barrier, but in the nearby sit-in tent, protesters are sure. According to one elderly man, “After they’ve finished building that wall, they’ll be hidden from sight. And then they’ll be free to do whatever they want.”

In addition to the barrier, the U.S. military has recently embarked on an array of other projects on Camp Schwab, including new administrative buildings and plans for a deep-water port for loading ammunition. These changes suggest that both Washington and Tokyo are confident that they can close the old Futenma airbase and build its replacement in Henoko.

Despite their anger at the construction work, the members of the sit-in have decided not to oppose the construction of the new barrier. Many of them sympathize with the financial plight of the laborers. “We know they oppose the bases, too, but they need the money,” said one of the sit-in’s members. “They receive 8000 yen ($100) a day for their work - and that’s a lot during tough times like this.”

Henoko’s already-depressed economy was dealt a blow last December when Tokyo declared that it was withholding millions of yen in base-hosting subsidies due to the area’s refusal to collude with its plans to relocate Futenma. However, the protestors’ personal money troubles were far from their thoughts as they listened to the radio announce the latest death toll from the earthquake and tsunami.

Everybody was adamant that the new wall’s 50 million yen budget would be put to much better use in the devastated region. One elderly member seemed to disagree when she said that she wished the military success with its new buildings. Pausing for effect, she added, “Then the United States should get out of Okinawa and hand over all those big bases to the tsunami’s survivors. They’re the ones who really need housing right now.”

Here is a Japanese translation of the piece - courtesy of Kosuzu Abe...

「辺野古からの便り」
ジョン・ミッチェル
2011年3月23日 　

「暇をもてあそんでいると悪魔に使われる」［暇にしていると、つい悪行に手を出してしまうというようなことわざ、訳者注］というが、ケヴィン・メアの一件で、悪魔の仕業は、沖縄の人びとの予想を上回る素早さだった。島の人びとを怠惰でごまかしの名人だと誹謗したこの国務省高官が解任された翌日、大地震が本土を襲ったのだが、その結果、メアは一夜にして地位を回復し、救済任務「トモダチ作戦」の主要な役割の一端を担うことになったのである。 　この一週間というもの国防総省は、日本北部における疑いの余地のない英雄的仕事について、メディアへ配信するのに忙しくしている。しかし、おなじ報道マシーンは、メアがかつて足跡を残した沖縄で現在進行中の、米軍の別の計画についての報道では後れを取っている。2011年1月以降、沖縄防衛局は5000万円（60万ドル）をかけてキャンプ・シュワブと辺野古の浜の間に防壁を建設中である。有刺鉄線のリボンが、コンクリートの壁に取って替わる。新しい航空基地建設から壊れやすい湾を守る、地元の人びとの7年に及ぶ座り込み運動の象徴となってきたものだ。バスツアーで訪問した生徒たちが応援メッセージを結びつけ、市民運動団体が横断幕を掲げ、毎年開催されるピース・ミュージック・フェスタの舞台背景となってきたのも、このフェンスだった。 　日米両政府はこの新しい防壁について黙して語らないが、近くにある座り込みテントで抗議する人びとには自明のことだ。ひとりの年配の男性は言う、「この防壁が完成したら、中が見えなくなる。そうなれば、やりたい放題でしょう」。 　防壁に加えて、米軍は近年、キャンプ・シュワブ内で別の工事にも着手している。管理棟のような新しい建物を建設中なのである。また装弾場付きの軍港敷設の計画もある。こうした進行状況が指し示すのは、ワシントンもトウキョウも、古い普天間飛行場を閉鎖し、辺野古に代替施設を建設できると確信しているということだ。 　建設工事への怒りはあるが、座り込みの人びとは、この新しい防壁工事に反対しないことにしている。多くは、建設労働者たちの経済的困難に心を寄せている。「かれらも基地に反対しているのだと思う。だがお金は必要だから」、座り込みのひとりは語った。「この仕事で日当8000円、この苦しい時期にはよい金額なんですよ」。 　久しく不況がつづく辺野古の景気だが、普天間移設計画への協力を拒んだことを理由に、トウキョウが数億円にのぼる再編交付金を停止したため、さらに打撃を受けた。だが、地震と津波の最新の死者数の発表をラジオで耳にしたとき、個々の人びとへの金銭的不安は想像を上回るものとなった。 　みんな、新しい防壁建設の5000万円の予算は、壊滅的被害を受けた地域のためによりよく遣われるべきだと強く主張した。高齢の参加者のひとりは、少しも同意していないそぶりながらも、［キャンプ・シュワブ内の］新しい基地施設の建設がうまく運べばよいのだと言った。「そうすれば、米軍は当然、沖縄から出て行くのだから、この巨大な基地は全部、津波の被災者に渡すことができるでしょう。いま、住むところをもっとも必要としている人たちなのだから」。 *ジョン・ミッチェル：沖縄の社会状況について『ジャパン・タイムズ』に定期的に記事を書くほか、『フォーリン・ポリシー・イン・フォーカス』、『カウンターパンチ』、『ジャパン・フォーカス』にも寄稿している。

This article was originally published at Foreign Policy in Focus. To see a timeline of Tokyo and Washington's unapproved military construction at Henoko, please see this post. For more information on Okinawa, please visit the Network for Okinawa's website.