Golden Week, or That Time I Went to an Anti-Nuclear Power Protest
Sorry for the delay! This week has been really busy, and it's still only Tuesday! There isn't much going on here, really, except homework and room repairs. My water heater broke (again) last week, and right after that got sorted out, my bathroom decided that it would be really cool if it would flood completely after using the shower or sink for only 30 seconds. It's great. I meant to talk to my dorm head today about that, but I was so drained after class that I just came home and crashed, then did homework until 10:00 PM. I'll talk to him after class tomorrow. I'm home earlier, anyway, so there will be more time to take care of it in case it's a major problem. Yaaaaaaay.
Last week was Golden Week, so we had all week off from school. I didn't do much for the first part of GW except for homework and knitting, which was nice and relaxing, but my friend Jenny came to stay with me for the second half of vacation, and that was lots of fun! On Friday we decided to explore Okachimachi, particularly Ameyoko, which used to be the big black market in Tokyo during World War II and the American occupation until around 1953.
Ameyoko is a pretty typical outdoor market, even though there aren't many left in the Tokyo area. There's no haggling; Japan doesn't really haggle from what I've seen, and most of the goods are pretty reasonably priced as it is. There were a lot of really interesting-looking shops; I wish I could've taken pictures of all of them but it was quite crowded!
The view from Okachimachi station.
Hey Jenny! How's it going??
So this store was selling military supplies for a variety of countries?
And I'm not sure if they were real or fake?
Doner kebab!
DELICIOUS!
After visiting Ameyoko, we moved on to Ueno Park to do some exploring, since it was right nearby.
There were food stands lined up in front of this temple!
Fish!
Chocolate dipped bananas! I wanted one BADLY, but I decided to hold out for some soft-serve.
Cherry blossom ice cream! It was actually pale pink, but you can't tell with the flash.
100% of Jennys agree: delicious!
Then, later that night, we met up with our friends Inga, Makoto, Jack, Daniel, and Victor to go out for pizza (at a California Pizza Kitchen! My first time having American pizza in FAR too long), followed by a quick trip to the local onsen.
Real American pizza! I can't even be upset it's from CPK.
Victor and Dan at the restaurant.
Hanging out after taking our baths.
We're so pretty~~
My second ice cream of the night. No regrets.
Jack, looking attractive.
The next afternoon, I was off to an anti-nuclear power demonstration as a part of my class on Buddhism and current social issues affecting Japan. We marched with some monks from the Nipponzan Myohoji sect. I personally don't think going off nuclear power is a good idea for Japan, so I didn't carry a sign or chant, but I definitely understand why a lot of Japanese people are very concerned and want to get as far away from nuclear power as they can. Plus it was really neat to see how protests in Japan work.
Before the demonstration began, we killed some time visiting Zojoji, which is one of the temples where my professor works, so he gave us a personalized tour! It was quite neat.
The main gate. Aside from the Grant Pine, this is the only part of the main temple that survived the firebombing of Tokyo, apparently.
The Grant Pine. So-named because it was apparently a gift from Ulysses S. Grant.
Tokyo tower is right behind Zojoji, so it makes for an interesting shot.
After visiting Zojoji, we headed to Shibakoen, the park where the demonstration was to gather before marching. We listened to some speeches and asked our professor questions. We also stood in the shade because it was really hot!!
Uyoku dantai! They were not pleased about the protest.
The police kept them in check, though!
Lots of workers' groups showed up. These people work at a co-op that gets most of its produce from farmers in the Fukushima area.
Even the Japan Rail workers were there!
And teachers' unions.
I liked that a lot of the marchers made Children's Day-themed signs. This sign says "Stop nuclear power."
And then we started marching!
These are the monks we marched with. They were very nice!
Some people got really creative with their signs. Like these umbrellas. (They were protesting radioactive rain, specifically.)
These people were blasting music out of a speaker attached to their banner. It was super annoying. :/
A sign I was handed as we were lining up. I took pictures and then put it in my bag. This side basically says "Let's change our nation's energy policy."
And this side says "We don't need nuclear power!"
Here's some video of us walking.
We actually got yelled at by the uryoku dantai during the walk; the police were standing between us, and they did not seem happy, so I guess the uryoku dantai parked their vans in a non-cleared spot. They yelled at us quite loudly. I wasn't that afraid, though, since the police were around, so I took video of them yelling at us!
Our group heading towards Tokyo Tower!
There were koinobori flying at the base of the tower. It was very pretty.
We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.
There was one nun with us, which was neat because there are many more monks than nuns. She's the one wearing primarily white.
My classmate, Axel, with one of the drums. The laypeople would beat drums while the monks chanted.
My other classmate, Shimpei, tried out drumming as well.
My classmates and I took a picture with one of our hosts after the march was done.
After the march was over, I met up with Jenny in Harajuku, where we had the oh-so-healthy dinner of sweet crepes. Once again, I had no regrets.
A strawberry/whipped cream crepe was the perfect way to end the day.
All in all, I'd have to call Golden Week a lot of fun! Too bad I won't have any more vacation this semester, but a week is quite a lot as it is. I'm quite happy with how I spent my break.
Radioactive rain would only come down if something exploded--radioactive particles are far too heavy to evaporate (unless it's D2O or T2O, both water isotopes and neither of which are particularly dangerous unless they become an extremely considerable part of your body's water weight--very unlikely from rain). Radioactive rain only occurs after a bomb goes off as that propels radioactive particles into the air. That, along with extreme evaporation from the heating creates a very unstable air mass over the blast site, which will cause rain, spreading the radioactive wastes over a larger area.
Want to hear something neat? I actually knew that, although not quite in as much detail as you! I learned about it in my class about the atomic bomb in my freshman year.
This protest actually wasn't limited to nuclear power; there were some demonstrators who were protesting nuclear weapons usage as well. I'm pretty sure these people were protesting nuclear bombs, etc. It wasn't a terribly focused protest.
Radioactive rain would only come down if something exploded--radioactive particles are far too heavy to evaporate (unless it's D2O or T2O, both water isotopes and neither of which are particularly dangerous unless they become an extremely considerable part of your body's water weight--very unlikely from rain). Radioactive rain only occurs after a bomb goes off as that propels radioactive particles into the air. That, along with extreme evaporation from the heating creates a very unstable air mass over the blast site, which will cause rain, spreading the radioactive wastes over a larger area.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, science!
Want to hear something neat? I actually knew that, although not quite in as much detail as you! I learned about it in my class about the atomic bomb in my freshman year.
DeleteThis protest actually wasn't limited to nuclear power; there were some demonstrators who were protesting nuclear weapons usage as well. I'm pretty sure these people were protesting nuclear bombs, etc. It wasn't a terribly focused protest.