For the first time since 1970, Japan has stopped producing nuclear power. Up until the partial nuclear meltdown at Fukushima last year, nuclear power plants provided almost 30 percent of Japan’s electricity needs. A growing anti-nuclear movement in Japan has forced the closure of Japan’s other facilities. On Saturday, Japan shut down its last nuclear plant, but government officials have not ruled out restarting its nuclear industry if Japan suffers from electricity shortages. On Saturday, thousands of anti-nuclear activists marched calling for the nuclear plants never to be reopened. One protester, Kaori Kanda, said she was worried about the effects of radiation.

Kaori Kanda: “My friend in Iwaki just died of cardiac arrest. The people around me are dying. They are dying because they are staying in places where the radiation is too high, absorbing the fallout and dying of cardiac arrest. The cause and effect cannot be directly established, so we can only say, 'What a pity.' But there are many people dying now.”