Japan Press Weekly

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2015 September 30 - October 6 [POLITICS]

20,000 citizens in rally determine to continue working hard to repeal war legislation

Shouting “Protect the Japanese Constitution!”, “Revoke the war legislation!” and carrying placards that read “No! Abe government!”, 20,000 citizens paraded through Tokyo’s famous shopping district of Ginza on the evening of October 2.

Prior to the parade, they assembled in Hibiya Amphitheater for a rally which was called for by an organizing committee consisting of various anti-Abe citizens’ groups, including the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes (MCAN).

Representing the organizing committee, MCAN’s Misao Redwolf pointed out, “I believe no one feels overly discouraged by the forcible enactment of the war legislation.” She called on participants to take the rally as a starting point to work hard to increase the public movement to remove the Abe administration.

Chiba Yasumasa of the students’ group SEALDs stressed that it is significant that with the influence of public movements against the war legislation, people throughout Japan have become concerned with the government policies and begun raising their voices in protest. “Let’s continue working together to bring down the Abe government,” he added.

Appearing on the stage, representatives of citizens’ movements opposing Prime Minister Abe’s anti-people policies expressed their determination to further increase public awareness of the issues contained in the war legislation, continuance of nuclear power generation, constitutional revision, a new U.S. base in Okinawa, the secrets protection law, a multinational free-trade framework, the higher consumption tax, adverse reforms in the social security systems, the labor legislation, and the agricultural structure, stopping hate-speech campaigns, and control over education.

A 19-year-old university student, who came from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, said, “I’m really angry at the enactment of the war legislation. I want opposition parties to cooperate in order to repeal the war legislation.”

A 27-year-old woman living in Saitama Prefecture came to the rally directly from work. She said, “I can’t understand why the Abe Cabinet ignores public opinion. I used to hesitate to join public movements, but I realized that I have to stand up for what is right.”

Past related articles:
> LDP and Komei forcibly enact war legislation [September 20 & 22, 2015]
> JCP proposes establishing a national coalition gov’t to repeal war legislation [September 20, 2015]