I would agree with the March 18 editorial "Time for antinuclear protests." But I was surprised to find a total estimate of "at least 20,000" who turned out at antinuclear protests in Japan on the first anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disasters. I was at a rally in Koriyama that filled a baseball park and was estimated at 16,000. Surely the national combined total must have been far higher than 20,000. Was there one or two zeros missing perhaps?
I can only suppose that the editorial writer was relying on The Japan Times' coverage of the anniversary. On March 12, The Japan Times ran a short Kyodo News article reporting turnouts of 16,000 at Koriyama, 1,200 in Fukui and 1,100 in Shizuoka.
A quick look around the Internet shows that there were also major rallies in Tokyo (7,000 to 10,000 people), Osaka (7,000 to 10,000), Hiroshima (2,000), Kagoshima (2,000), Matsumoto (1,800), Kumamoto (1,500), Genkai (650), and in Fukuoka, Maizuru, Kobe, Sapporo, Hakodate and Asahikawa, to name only a few.
It would seem that The Japan Times made disappointingly little effort to round up the rallies and demonstrations held this past March 11 and count up the participants. Is that not a basic responsibility for a newspaper in times like these?
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.