Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 April 23 - May 6 [POLITICS]

Scholars’ group holds rally in protest against Abe’s attempt to revise the Constitution through new interpretations

With the Constitution Memorial Day coming soon, an association consisting of scholars in various fields, such as constitutional law and politics, on April 25 held a gathering in Tokyo with 600 participants in protest against Abe’s attempt to revise the Japanese Constitution through new interpretations.

The association was inaugurated on April 18 by 50 initiators calling for protection of constitutional democracy.

In a keynote speech for the gathering, Nagoya University Professor Aikyo Koji cited the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s argument that Article 97 declaring human rights as something to be held for all time inviolate should be deleted. He criticized Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for trying to deny modern constitutions which are in line with the three principles of people’s sovereignty, human rights, and separation of powers.

The gathering organized a symposium on Abe’s attempt to enable Japan to engage in collective self-defense through constitutional reinterpretation.

One of the symposium panelists, professor emeritus at Waseda University Mori Kazuko said, “The important thing is to adhere proudly to Japan’s postwar history of maintaining the current Constitution.”

Another panelist, Gakushuin University Professor Aoi Miho said that even moving under an assumption of constitutionally legalizing the existence of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, it is impossible to interpret the use of the collective self-defense right as being allowed under the Constitution. “Such an interpretation undermines the very essence of Article 9,” Aoi said.

In the gathering, organizers announced that former Japanese Ambassador to China Niwa Uichiro has joined the association.


Past related article:
> Scholars stand up against PM Abe’s move to turn Japan into war-fighting nation [April 19, 2014]