Opponents, backers rally in Tokyo over constitutional revision

May 4, 2018

Tokyo- Opponents and supporters of a revision to the Japanese constitution separately held rallies in Tokyo on the Constitution Memorial Day on Thursday, which marked the 71st anniversary of the supreme law's effectuation.

The gathering of the anti-revision camp was held at the Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park in Koto Ward, bringing together as many as some 60,000 people, according to the meeting's organizer.

The leaders of four opposition parties--the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party--and scholars take the stage one after another to call for a halt to the drive of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to amend the constitution.

"Turning the SDF into a publicly recognized military organization will increase the danger of citizens being put at gunpoint," said Muroran Institute of Technology Associate Prof. Aisa Kiyosue. "We can never accept that."

Kiyosue was referring to proposals for revising war-renouncing Article 9 to recognize the Self-Defense Forces.

Yuki Tajima, a 58-year-old part-timer who participated in the pro-constitution rally, said, "Although I may be told that I'm unrealistic, I believe conflicts should be resolved through dialogue, not war."

After the rally, the participants marched in a parade, holding banners and flags showing their calls for maintaining the current constitution.

Meanwhile, supporters of constitutional amendment held a rally at a hall in Chiyoda Ward, to which Abe sent a video message for pursuing constitutional amendment, as he did a year earlier. Participants totaled about 1,200, the organizer said.

"Looking at the situation in the Korean Peninsula, it's obvious that the world is about to achieve a great transformation," journalist Yoshiko Sakurai said at the rally. "In order to survive such circumstances, we need the power to protect our country and the constitution must be revised as soon as possible."

In addition, Sakurai said opposition parties are claiming that the constitution should not be revised under Abe as they are preoccupied with capitalizing on the current political confusion that partly resulted from favoritism allegations against the prime minister.

"I wonder if the international community can wait if we miss this timing," she said.

A 46-year-old school operator participated in the pro-constitutional revision rally for the first time. "It was nice to know that there are many people with whom I can share the same thinking," he said. Jiji Press