Japan is still coming to terms with the disaster that ravaged its north-eastern region. The earthquake and tsunami killed more than 15,000 people.

The magnitude 9.0 tremor on March 11, 2011, was so powerful it sent a ripple of sound through the atmosphere that was picked up by the Goce satellite. Several thousand people are still unaccounted for.

"It's becoming more and more important for us to protest. I do this for my children. We can't leave the mess of nuclear power behind to them," said a 32-year-old mother of two marching in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, chanting "Stop nuclear! Protect our children!"

The nuclear meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power's (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi plant forced 160,000 people from their homes and many will never return. It also led to an unprecedented protest movement against nuclear power.

Tepco faces a decades-long effort to decontaminate the wrecked nuclear plant after the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

A change of government in December sparked fears of a relaxation in policy.