Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Aug. 22 met with representatives of the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, which organizes a rally every Friday evening near the prime minister's official residence. Mr. Noda once condescendingly described the cries of rally participants as "loud sound."
Given such an attitude, one might think he deserves praise for meeting with citizens opposed to nuclear power generation. But in light of what he said to them, the meeting should be viewed as just a political performance by Mr. Noda.
During the meeting, which lasted about 30 minutes, the rally organizers said that Mr. Noda should listen to the voice of the people and abolish all nuclear power stations as soon as possible. They called for the immediate shutdown of two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power station which were restarted in July. They pointed out that nuclear power is not safe and that the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has not been overcome yet.