Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away on March 28 after a long battle with cancer, was an internationally renowned composer, musician and actor. But he was also an advocate for peace and environmental issues, in particular taking a strong anti-nuclear stance that put him at odds with Japanese officialdom.

For example, Sakamoto got involved with a grassroots effort to halt construction of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, called Stop-Rokkasho.Org. In a 2006 interview with The Japan Times, he talked about how was worried about the dangers of a nuclear leak and plutonium proliferation.

“(Rokkasho) is hugely profitable for the general contractors. They know nuclear power is unnecessary and dangerous, and that it will be dangerous for hundreds of future generations because of the radioactive waste. It is just for money, and it is absurd and stupid,” he said.

Sakamoto’s involvement in the anti-Rokkasho campaign helped draw millions of signatures against the project from those inside and outside of Japan.

The Rokkasho plant is now three decades behind schedule. The current plan is to complete it in 2024.

Kyoto-based anti-nuclear activist Aileen Mioko Smith said Sakamoto’s willingness to oppose the Rokkasho reprocessing plant made a huge impact on public opinion, not least because it’s unusual for highly prominent Japanese artists and celebrities to take public political stances.

“In Japan, prominent people, including artists and those in different walks of life, feel that if they speak up about social issues, their careers will be damaged. But Sakamoto wasn't afraid. That's really significant because it’s the kind of hands-on work needed to become a more democratic country,” Smith said.

Following the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and triple reactor meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Sakamoto became further involved with efforts to end the country’s reliance on nuclear power.

In July 2012, he helped organize a two-day concert called No Nukes 2012 in Chiba Prefecture.

A total of 18 groups, including Sakamoto’s Yellow Magic Orchestra and the German electronic group Kraftwerk, performed. Proceeds from the concert were sent to an anti-nuclear group called the Citizens’ Committee for the 10 Million People’s Petition to say Goodbye to Nuclear Power Plants, which Sakamoto was supporting.

Sakamoto was also outspoken abroad, in particular becoming concerned with the United States’ rush to war following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The award-winning composer, who was in New York at the time, put together a compilation of essays from more than 50 people — from musicians and academics, to writers and politicians — entitled “No War” in late 2001, warning that conflict was not the answer.

In the last few years of his life, Sakamoto remained engaged as an activist, despite increasingly ill health. In January 2020, he visited the Henoko area of Okinawa Prefecture, where a controversial U.S. military helipad is under construction, and criticized the central government’s decision to continue building the facility, which was damaging the local environment.

In 2007, Sakamoto’s environmental activities had expanded to tree and forest conservation, as part of which he headed the organization More Trees.

Earlier this month, he criticized Tokyo’s plans to redevelop the Jingu Gaien area, which will involve cutting down hundreds of trees. In a letter to Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, Sakamoto called on her to suspend the project, saying that “we should not sacrifice the precious trees of Jingu that our ancestors spent 100 years protecting and nurturing, just for quick economic gain.”

Rochelle Kopp, an American consultant involved with opposition to the project, said Sakamoto’s intervention has helped draw attention to the redevelopment.

“As his letter to Koike and other government figures asking them to rethink the redevelopment plan and spare the trees came shortly before he passed away, many people in Japan are calling it his last wish,” she said.