Japan Press Weekly

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2011 October 12 - 18 [POLITICS]

Kasai takes part in 99%ers’ protest in Tokyo

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira on October 15 participated in a “we are the 99%” protest in Roppongi in Tokyo, responding to the weeks’ of demonstrations on New York City’s Wall Street against corporate greed.

The 99 percenters’ protest concurrently took place across the world on this day and Tokyoites also participated in this Wall Street-triggered action at several locations. The Roppongi action was webcast and about 100 protesters exchanged messages through the Internet with protesters in Washington D.C. and California.

JCP Kasai said, “A handful of corporations have hoarded about 257 trillion yen in their internal reserves while many working people have less opportunity to work and are forced to pay higher taxes. It’s time to change such politics!”

Writer Amamiya Karin said, “More than two million people in Japan are living on public assistance. The poverty situation has become worse, let alone being addressed. Let’s bring about a radical social change!”

Tokyo Young Contingent Workers’ Union Secretary General Kawazoe Makoto said that one out of every five working people in Japan now earns less than two million yen a year, and called for a redistribution of the wealth in order to redress the gap between the rich and the poor by such means as improving social security programs.