都民投票条例に関する会見 日本外国特派員協会
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Shinji Miyadai, Professor, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Hajime Imai, Director, Citizen-Initiated National Referendum on Nuclear Power
15:00-16:00 Wednesday, June 13, 2012
(The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation)
Why should Tokyo go to polls over the country’s nuclear policy?
Historically, the Japanese government has been somewhat reluctant about referendums because the Japanese constitution guarantees the Diet to be the highest decision-making body in the nation and thus legally binding referendums are considered unconstitutional, but this is not the case with local governments.
There has been an increase in referendums held at the prefectural and municipal levels in recent years. In 1996, for instance, a referendum was held in Maki-city, Niigata, over the construction of a new nuclear power plant. The plan was overwhelmingly rejected and forced Tohoku Electric Power Company to withdraw its construction plans. Most recently, in May, Tottori-city residents went to the polls over the purposed construction of a new municipal government building. The building plans were rejected, forcing the municipal government to continue to use the existing building.
This time, it's about nuclear power plants and a referendum may happen in the nation's capital for the first time. A citizens group submitted 323,076 signatures to the Tokyo metropolitan government on May 10, calling for a referendum on the resumption of nuclear power plants.
The citizen's group collected enough signatures to force the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to deliberate the legislation, but in order for the referendum to take place, the assembly must pass new legislation. So far, the assembly is divided over a referendum and Governor Shintaro Ishihara has publicly expressed opposition to such legislation. Ishihara reportedly said "the nuclear policy is a matter for the national government, and thus it is not suited for local referendums."
The Metropolitan assembly is expected to vote on the legislation before its current session ends on June 20.
Even if the referendum is held, there is no legal binding over Japanese government policies. However, leaders of the citizens' group, journalist Hajime Imai and Shinji Miyadai, professor of sociology at Tokyo Metropolitan University, say it will have significant impact on the national government and its policies. They will talk about the prospect of the referendum as well as why they think it is important for the nation's capital to hold a referendum on Japan's nuclear policy.
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