Japan Press Weekly

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2014 December 3 - 9 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Citizens renew determination to repeal State Secrecy Law on 1st anniversary of its enactment

While the Abe government is seeking to implement the state secrets law on December 10, citizens renewed their determination to repeal the law. The general election will be a good chance to give a severe verdict to the ruling parties which forced through the law last year.

On December 6, the first anniversary of the enactment of the law, various protest actions took place across the country. In Tokyo, about 1,600 citizens assembled at the Hibiya Amphitheater, demanding that the government not bring the law into effect. The participants expressed their opposition to the enforcement of the law by holding placards reading “Abolish secrecy legislation”. Japan Federation of Bar Associations Vice President Osako Tadashi in his solidarity speech said that local bar associations will keep raising their voices against the legislation.

In Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, a rally seeking to block the implementation of the law took place. Lawyer Kusaba Hiroyuki on behalf of the organizers called on rally participants to work to make the secrecy law a key issue in the election campaign. Sendai Bar Association Vice President Chiba Tatsuro in his speech pointed out that the bar association adopted statements opposing the law seven times, and said, “We will continue staging protest actions in collaboration with citizens.”

In Osaka City, citizens marched in demonstration against the state secrets law and the cabinet decision to allow Japan to exercise the collective self-defense right. A woman in the march said, “One year has passed since the law was forced through the Diet. I am still angry at the government for ignoring the will of the people. The government should listen to the people.”

The Japanese Communist Party has been opposing the state secrets law and pledges to work to abrogate the law in its general election platform. The Democratic Party of Japan only proposes that enforcement of the law be postponed. The Your Party, which endorsed the law, dissolved just before the election campaign started and its Dietmembers joined the DPJ, the Japan Innovation Party, or the Party for Future Generations.