Jinzaburo Takagi, known for his antinuclear activities and stinging criticism of big science and died Sunday of rectal cancer at a hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, his family said. He was 62.
A private wake and funeral will be held for family members and relatives, and a public ceremony to remember him will be held on Dec. 10 at a public hall in Tokyo's Hibiya Park.
Born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, he majored in nuclear chemistry at the University of Tokyo.
After graduating in 1961, he entered a private nuclear company and served as an assistant at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Nuclear Study and assistant professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University.
He joined the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, a network of antinuclear groups across the nation, and became head of the center in 1987.
Takagi quit the post in August last year after undergoing an operation for colon cancer in July 1998.
In 1997 he received the Right Livelihood Award, a prestigious award given for contributions to resolving issues facing mankind.
Takagi made public his own analysis of Japan's worst nuclear accident, which killed two plant workers last fall at a uranium-processing plant in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture. He also criticized the Nuclear Safety Commission-led investigation of the accident.