Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 June 25 - July 1 [POLITICS]

LDP Komura insults local assemblies opposing constitutional reinterpretations

Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party Komura Masahiko on June 27 put down local municipal assemblies expressing concerns over Japan’s use of the collective self-defense right, by saying that they should “study more if they are true Japanese”.

This statement will inevitably trigger protests from local legislatures.

Over the last seven days alone, local municipal assemblies throughout the country adopted resolutions one after another to oppose or express concerns over the lifting of Japan’s conventional policy to deny use of the right to collective self-defense.

In Iwate Prefecture, for example, the Kuji City Assembly on June 25 passed a resolution with the consent of all parliamentary groups, including the Komei Party, in opposition to modifications to the traditional interpretation of the Japanese Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the collective self-defense right. The Kitakami City Assembly followed Kuji, becoming the ninth assembly in 33 municipalities in Iwate Prefecture.

Two cities and two towns in Nara, three assemblies in Tottori, and eight assemblies in Kochi, including of the prefectural capital of Kochi City, approved similar resolutions.

In the Gifu Prefectural Assembly, even the LDP group voted for a statement calling for careful consideration of the matter. The Naha City Assembly in Okinawa adopted a resolution with a majority approval even by Komei and some of LDP assemblypersons, protesting the Abe Cabinet forcibly pushing ahead with constitutional reinterpretations to authorize Japan’s use of the right to collective self-defense.

* * *

The number of local governments that approved a similar resolution reached 158 on June 28, up 56 from a week ago. In Tokyo’s suburban city of Tama, the assembly adopted a petition opposing constitutional reinterpretations.