Japan Press Weekly

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2007 December 5 - 11 [HISTORY]

Activists take to the streets declaring no to war calls

Marking the 66th anniversary of the start of the Pacific War, Japan’s peace and democratic movement activists took to the streets on December 8 to call for the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to be defended.

In Tokyo, the Japanese Communist Party held a speech assembly in front of Shinjuku Station and House of Representatives member Kasai Akira stressed how important it is for Japan to face up to its past war of aggression, and called for further efforts to prevent Japan from being turned into a war-fighting nation. He also criticized the new anti-terrorism special measures bill as a bill intended to assist the U.S. in its war of retaliation that is killing innocent people of Afghanistan, and called for the bill to be scrapped.

In front of Tokyo’s Ochanomizu Station and Yurakucho Station, about 90 members of the Japan Mothers Congress Organizing Committee handed out copies of the “red slip,” the call-up-notice used in Japan during World War II, to remind passers-by of the importance of defending the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9.

Students from various colleges held a “Christmas Parade” on the evening of the same day in Tokyo’s Shibuya district to call for the defense of Article 9. It was called for by the “Peace Night 9” organizing committee in defense of Article 9 together with Tokyo University Article 9 Association of Students. Carrying small flags and small boards with the letter “9”, they held the action by playing John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas” and other music about peace and Christmas.
- Akahata, December 9, 2007