Nobel Winner, Others Challenge Japan’s Security Laws

August 3, 2018

Nagoya- A group of 143 citizens, including Nobel-winning scientist Toshihide Maskawa, sued the Japanese government on Thursday, claiming that the country's national security laws that allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense are unconstitutional.

In the lawsuit, filed with Nagoya District Court, the plaintiffs, mainly from Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, demanded 100,000 yen in damages per head from the state.

Maskawa, 78, professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008. He is a native of Nagoya, the capital of Aichi.

According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, lawsuits seeking the cancellation of the laws or compensation over the legislation have been filed with 21 district courts in the country, with the number of plaintiffs totaling some 7,300.

The plaintiffs in the Nagoya lawsuit claimed that Japan's possible exercise of the collective self-defense right could increase the risk of the country getting involved in wars of other nations and thus could violate their rights to live in peace.

"I hesitated to play a part in the lawsuit, but I made up my mind," said Etsuo Shimozawa, one of the plaintiffs and former judge, told a press conference after the filing of the lawsuit, adding, "It's worthwhile to develop the movement into a nationwide campaign."

The security laws were put into force in March 2016. Jiji Press