Apologies everyone for the infrequency of the updates on the English side of the petition. (There are more frequent updates on the Japanese side; you are getting this update because you signed up on the English side).
First, a quick update on the status of the project, and two things that you can do to help.
Despite growing calls to stop the project, including an editorial in the Mainichi Newspaper this week, it moves forward. It is moving somewhat more slowly than the developers would like, however, because the environmental assessment committee put extra reporting requirements on them in a historical move last August. However, unlike in some other countries, the environmental assessment committee is not easily able to halt a project, so we can’t rely on that alone. What it basically does is buy us more time, during which we need to make as much noise as possible about the project in order to pressure the politicians to take it back to the drawing board and do a democratic do-over. (Multiple experts a say that a public outcry is our only hope for stopping the project).
So what can we do with that time (a few months) we have been given before the construction starts in earnest?
There are so many ideas, but how to make them happen? Recently, myself and the other activists working on the opposition to the Jingu Gaien project have been working flat out on various efforts, particularly focused on talking to the media and politicians, and filing administrative petitions (a feature of the Japanese political system.) There are so many other things that could potentially be done, but our time is limited (and most of us have day jobs that we need to keep doing too), so it’s just not possible for us to do anything more than what we are already.
So, I’m taking a hint from Ukraine, where President Zelensky’s effective motivation of the Ukrainian people to act independently has been a key factor in the country’s resistance against the Russian invasion. So, this week I am asking those who are interested in pitching in on efforts to oppose the project and asking them to join self-managing teams that will pursue specific topic areas.
If you read and speak Japanese very fluently and would like to get involved on a team with Japanese, I will be having a Zoom meeting for organizing purposes on Saturday, November 5 at 11 am Japan time. Registration is here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsf-CurTsqGtJiq7pCdwaicOdYC-HpTXHn We will be forming a team for each of the following topics:
- Outreach to baseball fans
- Outreach to rugby fans
- Outreach to users of the golf practice area
- Outreach to users of the softball fields
- Outreach to historical preservation organizations
- Outreach to environmental preservation organizations
- Handing out fliers and gathering petition signatures at Jingu Gaien
- Small demonstrations (at Jingu Gaien, in front of the developers’ headquarters, at Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, etc.)
- Lawsuits
- Jingu Gaien themed art exhibit
- Competition to design alternatives for the Jingu Gaien redevelopment
For those who do not speak Japanese fluently and/or would prefer to work in English and/or want to focus specifically on activities that non-Japanese can do most effectively, I am scheduling a meeting also on the 5th, at 9:30 am Japan time. This is for English speakers, to brainstorm what we can do, either by mobilizing opinion leaders globally or leveraging our special roles in Japanese society, and then form teams to work on the ideas. You can sign up for that meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrdOytqDIuGtdv9fS3HzP7wa3DT4AxI4be
Hope you will be willing to join in on our efforts!
Rochelle