My wife took my daughters into Osaka the other day for lunch. On the way home she said she planned to take them to a demonstration in front of Osaka City Hall protesting the burning of radioactive material from Fukushima in Osaka City.

I thought I knew how things would go: the kids would get bored and cranky then start fighting, first with each other, then their mother. When I went to pick them up I was sure I’d be met by three angry people. But things didn’t go as I had expected.

After about an hour of listening, my youngest daughter, Yuuri, worked her way to the front, took the mike and made a short speech. Entirely unprompted, just nine years old, she took the mike and made a speech. It wasn’t that long, and was punctuated by some long pauses, but drew a very emotional response from many in the crowd.

Among the things she said was, “Children have to live with your decisions. What’s more important, money or lives?”

I asked her if she’d been nervous.

“Yes, my hands were shaking. But the microphone wasn’t very big, so it was okay.”