Rallies held against 'national foundation day'

Trade unions, peace organizations, religious groups, and many peace-loving individuals used this year's February 11 anti-"National Foundation Day" rallies to help increase opposition to an adverse revision to the Constitution and the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

Unlike national day in many other countries, Japan's "national foundation day" was enacted based on an imperial family-related mythical creation of the country. This is why peace, religious, and rights organizations oppose it.

In Tokyo, about 400 people took part in an assembly organized by the Association in Defense of Freedom of Thought and Religious Belief. The main speaker was Watanabe Osamu, professor at Hitotsubashi University. He pointed out that advocates of constitutional changes are moving faster than ever toward revising the text of the Constitution in the belief that its interpretational revision is no longer enough.

Horio Teruhisa, professor emeritus of Tokyo University, stressed that the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education, which the government is attempting to scrap, were established in order to break with the basic framework of the old imperial constitution. The task now is to let the new basic laws guide the Japanese people's daily life in all areas, he said.

Ms. Shiraki Maho, speaking on behalf of the Tokyo High School Student Peace Seminar, criticized Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro for slandering a Miyazaki high school girl student who collected over 5,000 signatures in opposition to the SDF dispatch. The slander meant forcing all high school students to accept the idea of killing. She added, "I will continue to protest and act against the SDF dispatch."

Similar events took place in Saitama, Kanagawa, and other prefectures. (end)