Japan Press Weekly

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2015 June 24 - 30 [POLITICS]

Nobel Peace Prize-seeking civic group asks JCP to work hard to bury war bills

A civic group aiming to have activists working to protect Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution be recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on June 23 visited Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Hatano Kimie in the Diet building and handed her 7,700 signatures calling for scrapping Prime Minister Abe’s war bills.

Group members told Hatano about their campaign seeking public support for the group’s statement protesting the launch of the Diet discussions and demanding the withdrawal of the bills. They also reported about their lobbying activities to kill the bills.

Hatano said, “The ruling coalition forcibly extended the current Diet session by 95 days. However, in recent opinion polls, 60% of respondents view the war bills as unconstitutional. Public movements are really important in getting the bills scrapped.”

The group informed the JCP lawmaker that the “Japanese people protecting the war-renouncing Article 9” were again nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Expressing appreciation, the group’s leader said that recommendations from various Dietmembers, including Hatano and other JCP lawmakers, to the Nobel Prize Committee have contributed to the nomination.

Past related article:
> War-renouncing Article 9 gets nomination for Nobel Peace Prize [April 13, 2014]