5,000 attend Constitution Day assembly in Tokyo to defend Article 9

Reflecting growing public concern about the prime minister's call for a revision of the Constitution, about 5,000 people attended a Constitution Day assembly in Tokyo and pledged united efforts to defend Article 9, and the constitutional principles of peace.

The speech assembly was held under the auspices of the Council of Various Circles for Prevention of Mal-Revision of the Constitution and the Citizens' Network for the Defense of the Constitution.

More than 2,000 people listened to the speeches while standing outside Hibiya Kokaido Hall.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo and Social Democratic Party Chair Doi Takako were among the main speakers in the assembly. It was the first time for the JCP and SDP leaders to climb on to the same platform during a Constitution Day assembly. Until last year, the two parties were represented in different gatherings.

Emphasizing the need for the people to be alert to the hawkish remarks of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro advocating the establishment of a system allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, Shii called for national unity to defend Article 9. (Details of the Shii speech will be available in English next week.)

Doi underlined the importance of the Constitution's Article 99 which defines the duty of those in executive power to observe the Constitution. It would be unconstitutional for those people to advocate a revision to the Constitution, she said.

Kato Shuichi, one of the best-known commentators in Japan, stressed that the need now is to fully support, not to change, the peace Constitution in the 21st century.

Novelist Sawachi Hisae defined Article 9 as the only asset that the Japanese people obtained as a result of the last war. (end)