Thousands March Against Japan's Nuclear Policy

Thousands turn out for an anti-nuclear march in Tokyo on Sunday.

An estimated 5,000 people marched in Tokyo Sunday to protest against Japan's nuclear policy and demand a switch to alternative energy in response to the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster. Until now, few had protested about nuclear energy following the disaster, said Greenpeace Japan director Junichi Sato. Instead "everybody was focusing on the victims of the tsunami ... on how to end the crisis." But now the possibility of phasing out nuclear energy in Japan is being openly debated on the political scene. About 30 per cent of Japan's electricity was generated from nuclear energy before the tsunami caused the shutdown of a dozen reactors.