Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 July 1 - 7 [POLITICS]

University students in Aichi form group opposing war legislation

Students at Nihon Fukushi University in Aichi Prefecture, a university of social welfare, formed in May a group opposing the Abe government’s move to turn Japan back into a war-fighting nation. They are taking various actions to block the enactment of the war legislation currently under Diet deliberation.

Sakade Hitoshi, one of the group organizers, said to his friends, “If the war-related bills are enacted, university students may also be sent to overseas battlegrounds. Let’s raise our voices against the bills.”

Harada Kana, a member of the student organization, played a central role in drawing posters and preparing handbills. “I had difficulty in drawing an appealing illustration to express our thoughts,” she said. The poster has a picture of a raised fist gripping a pencil. It says, “We will never replace this pencil with a gun.”

Those students printed 40 copies of the poster and put them up in prominent places on the campus. Seeing them, passing students said to the members, “Have you set up an association opposing war? That’s cool!” “Why not print more copies and put them up throughout the campus?”

During a lunch break, members collected signatures seeking the scrapping of the war bills. A female student said while signing, “During the Second World War, the Japanese disabled were discriminated against because they were regarded as ‘useless’ for war.” Another freshman said, “In our high school excursion, I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum for the first time. I think such a tragedy must not be allowed to happen again.”

Bito Miho, participating in the signature drive, had been concerned that other students might be unwilling to respond to her call. “Young people are said to have little interest in politics. That’s not true. If we sincerely appeal to them, many of them respond to us,” she said.

Kimura Naoto recently went to Tokyo to submit to the Diet 339 signatures they collected on the campus. “Parliamentarians have a duty to listen to the general public. Silence accomplishes nothing. I’ll continue to work to further strengthen our campaign,” he said.

The association also informs about its activities on Twitter. In response to the tweets, students at other universities in the prefecture offered the organization their cooperation in planning some actions. Another college student studying design tweeted that he wants to help design posters.

With the help of those outside the university, the student group is planning to hold a protest parade and study sessions about the war-related bills by inviting lawyers and scholars to give talks.