Who’s Who: Hara Asuka – a Rising Star in Niigata under the NPS Restart Crisis
By Kuwabara Mie (Hara Asuka and Kuwabara Mie’s NPS Restart Holdback Project)
In Niigata Prefecture, the controversy over the restart of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki–Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, whose operation has been suspended since the Fukushima nuclear power disaster, is reaching its biggest turning point. While the national government and TEPCO have worked meticulously to accomplish an early restart, Niigata Governor Hanazumi, who has postponed expressing his opinions, announced that he would disclose his decision this month (November 2025). Local residents opposing the restart are taking every possible action to prevent the restart from happening. The Kashiwazaki–Kariwa NPS is said to be the world’s largest nuclear plant in terms of generating capacity, but there are many active faults, both offshore and on the land, in and around the NPS site, which was severely hit and damaged by the Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake in 2007. As it was not possible to make a thorough post-quake inspection of the plant, no one knows when any of the damage that has not been found may trigger an accident. The ground on which the plant is sited is soft and not suited for NPS construction. Residents in Niigata are very concerned about the planned restart of such an NPS.
What authority NPS-hosting municipalities may have to enable or disable the restart of an NPP that has been suspended for a long time is not legally defined; however, it is the national government’s policy that the agreement of local municipalities is required to enable a restart. Because this policy has no legal ground, both the scope of “local municipalities” and the procedure for obtaining “the agreement of local municipalities” is unknown. To establish the rights of the local residents over the operation of NPPs, citizens’ movements have arisen to hold municipal referenda to establish the will of residents. In Niigata Prefecture, a movement started up in autumn last year (2024) to hold a prefectural referendum. The proposal for the establishment of an ordinance required to hold such a referendum was presented to the Niigata prefectural assembly in April this year but was turned down.
I was in the gallery of the Niigata prefectural assembly when the proposal failed, but I happened to become acquainted with Hara Asuka there, to whom a friend of mine introduced me as a no-nuke, no-NPP YouTuber. I said to her that I believed SNS must be used to build up the people’s movement against NPPs, but that I had not so far been successful with it. “I can help you out,” said Ms. Hara. Since then our actions have been broadcast through YouTube. The information that used to be shared only within a small group of people is disseminated widely today. Following our first activities in cooperation in May and June, we interviewed people in the prefecture in July and August under the name of “Asuka and Barbara’s On-the-spot Interview: Yea or Nay to NPS Restart?” This was planned in retaliation against prefecture-held public hearing meetings concerning the NPS restart, which were not sufficiently open to the public. We listened to the voices of many locals and posted the video clips on YouTube. In September, we launched a crowd-funding project to obtain funds for future actions and started up four projects. Ms. Hara energetically backed me up in realizing the “NPS Café across the Prefecture” project, which I had dreamed of but could not carry out due to lack of funds. Her energy in bringing plans to life is immeasurable. She is very caring while also being good at clerical work, maybe because she used to be a company worker. The sensibility of Ms. Hara, now in her 40s (while I am now turning 80), is very fresh and eye-opening to me. It was very fortunate that I was able to become acquainted with her.
YOUTUBE channel: NO MORE NUCLEAR POWERS & WEAPONS
Ms. Hara says that it was the movement for the referendum that got her involved in the anti-NPP movement. Under the NPP restart crisis, she showed up in front of me and unlocked our actions, which used to be limited to small circles, to a greater community through SNS to enable widespread consolidation. It will be never easy for her, a YouTuber against all forms of nukes, to produce big waves that will realize a world free from NPPs and nuclear weapons. It will not be possible for me to follow her actions to the end, but I sincerely hope that, as she meets many people and acquires more experience, Ms. Hara will obtain solid power to galvanize society.
