That doesn't stop them from downplaying the number, though. Just like the US MSM.
The best (for MSM) coverage goes to Asahi Shinbun, who treated the news of the nationwide events as one of the top news. The article at Asahi has pictures and videos of the protests in various parts of the country, and pins the number of participants as follows:
- 20,000 in one demonstration in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, quoting the number by the event organizer;
- 200 in Koriyama-City, Fukushima Prefecture.
No other information on any other events. There were at least 14 events in Tokyo that were carried live on the net. Including the events that weren't net-casted, there were over 20 events in Tokyo alone. Throughout Japan, the 6.11 No-Nukes site lists 174 events worldwide.
Moving on, Sankei Shinbun only reports on the event in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo:
- 1,500 people
Yomiuri Shinbun is even more hilarious, and the only number the paper is willing to put out is:
- 200 people in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture
Kyodo News says several thousands in Paris, but no number for any event in Japan.
Mainichi Shinbun doesn't even carry the news.
Unofficial numbers for some events in Tokyo and Kanagawa, from the tweets:
- 20,000 in Shinjuku, Tokyo
- 6,000 in Shiba Park, Tokyo
- 1,500 in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo
- 700 in Kunitachi City, Tokyo
- 4,000 Yokohama, Kanagawa
Not too bad for a rainy day and for a country not used to go against any official, government policy.
BBC and the US's NPR reported the Tokyo number as 5,000.
New York Times has an article on the event in Tokyo (probably Shinjuku, as the article say 20,000 people attended), which concludes with a cynical remark by a bystander, a 21-year-old girl, saying "It looks fun, but if you think anything will change, it’s naïve."
You watch, girl.
Usual detractors are there in numbers, too; there are tweets attacking those who attended the demonstrations, calling them "naive idiots" for ignoring the need for electricity generated by the nuke plants. Hey just like the girl in the NYT article...