In the early stages of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Cocoro Fujinami posted a message on her blog that brought the little-known singer instant fame.
In the early stages of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Cocoro Fujinami posted a message on her blog that brought the little-known singer instant fame.
"How much are we going to coddle the nuclear power industry?" wrote Fujinami, a so-called B-class idol who has also posed as a gravure model and appeared in film.
However, that message also led to scorn.
The 15-year-old is one of the new faces of the anti-nuclear movement in Japan, an issue that has blurred the lines between leftists and rightists.
After Fujinami posted that message on March 23, her blog received more than 3 million hits over three days. She won support from Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son and other well-known figures and became a regular invitee to anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Before performing popular school song "Furusato" (Hometown), Fujinami often states to the crowd: "I love Japan. I sing with the hope that the people of Fukushima will be able to return to their normal lives as soon as possible and that Japan quickly abandons nuclear energy."
While some hum along as the music starts, others have heckled the young singer and even tried to throw objects at her.
Her agency has received angry complaints from both left- and right-wingers. One rightist complained, "Letting a minor join a left-wing assembly is outrageous."
From the left, a common complaint to the agency is: "Don't lend support to nationalism or militarism."
But Fujinami and the anti-nuclear movement are also receiving support from both sides.
On the night of Nov. 21, nearly 100 people marched through Tokyo's Yurakucho district waving flags and placards protesting the use of nuclear energy. At the head of the line was the Hinomaru, Japan's national flag.
The demonstration was organized by Toitsu Sensen Giyugun (united front volunteer army), a new nationalist group.
Its chairman, Daisuke Hariya, 46, has traveled three times to deliver relief supplies to areas devastated by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that caused the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
In July, he organized the first anti-nuclear demonstration because "we have to protect the beautiful mountains and rivers our ancestors gave us."
Hariya says, "If the left holds a monopoly over the anti-nuclear movement, then the politicians will easily crush it."
The impression used to be that the anti-nuclear movement was a staunchly leftist one.
But after the tsunami crippled the reactors at the Fukushima plant, more people became involved in the movement out of fears that radioactive contamination on ancestral lands would affect their children and grandchildren.
Those people's love for their hometowns began to resonate with part of the rightist arguments. A man who took part in the Tokyo demonstration said he also joins anti-nuclear protests with Japanese Communist Party members.
A 30-year-old woman who joined the November protest said, "Unlike leftist demonstrations, right-wing ones are safe because nobody quarrels with the police."
The group's demonstration ended after an hour, and 50 participants went to a pub. Twenty of them later headed for a karaoke parlor, including Hariya. He left the parlor around dawn, and planned to rest up before his shift as a taxi driver started at 11 a.m.
Social network services have also made it easier for a diverse range of people to join such activities, regardless of political affiliation.
Taichi Hirano, a 26-year-old caregiver in Tokyo, posted this message on Twitter on April 5: "If I recruit people on Twitter for an anti-nuclear demonstration around Shibuya and you want to join, please retweet."
After 1,200 people expressed interest in joining, Hirano organized the 4/30 Anti-Nuclear Demo @ Shibuya & Harajuku.
Hirano says he didn't think his demonstration would change the world soon, nor did he know how many people would show up.
But young people carrying a variety of placards steadily arrived at the gathering spot in Yoyogi Park, forming a crowd that swelled to 1,000.
"They actually gathered," Hirano said with mild surprise.
Some of the participants called themselves a "modern 'ee ja nai ka'" movement, referring to the carnival-like religious celebrations held across Japan in 1867 and 1868 that were not linked to any political agenda.
Until March 11 last year, Japan's anti-nuclear movement was organized by political parties and groups as well as people who clearly shared a common ideology. This placed high barriers for a spontaneous demonstration.
However, concerns about radioactive contamination have removed those barriers, and anti-nuclear gatherings and protests are still taking place around Japan.
Fujinami welcomes the shift away from putting a political label on the anti-nuclear movement.
"I do what I want. My desire to get rid of nuclear power has nothing to do with right- or left-wing ideologies," she says. "Can't I say that I like Japan? Don't all of you like our country?"