January 29, 2019

A group of young residents in Kyoto City on January 28, based on the Personal Information Protection Act, filed with the city government an official complaint demanding that their personal information be excluded from the city authorities’ list to be offered to the Self-Defense Forces.

The Kyoto City government, under the name of cooperation for SDF recruitment activities, plans to draw up a list of high school students aged 18 years and people who are 22 years old living in the city and offer the list in the form of address labels to the SDF.

At a press conference after the filing, a mother of a 17-year-old student who is one of the complainants said that the student took the action because he/she does not want to receive any recruitment letter from the SDF. The mother went on to say that her child also does not want his/her friends dispatched to wars.

The city government in response to questions from Japanese Communist Party assemblypersons took a stance to go forward with the plan in defiance of public opposition.

Past related article:
> Rally held to oppose Kyoto City’s move to provide personal data to SDF [December 14, 2018]