Japan Press Weekly

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2015 December 23 - 2016 January 5 [POLITICS]

New Year begins with people’s call for an early end to Abe gov’t

On January 3 during the New Year holidays, many people rallied across the country putting up placards reading, “We can no longer tolerate PM Abe’s government.”

This action has taken place throughout the country on the third day of each month since November 3, 2015, the 69th anniversary of the promulgation of the current pacifist Constitution.

In front of the Diet building in Tokyo, protesters raised their placards simultaneously at 1:00 p.m. At the rally, comedian Matsumoto Hiro impersonated a cabinet minister and “declared” the abolishment of the war legislation. The participants applauded his performance enthusiastically.

Tanaka Kumiko, a 68-year-old woman from Tokyo’s Kita Ward, said, “I came here numerous times last year to join in the protest actions. We must work harder this year to force the Abe government out of power.”

A 49-year-old male teacher from Hinode Town in western Tokyo said, “I don’t want my own children and my students to go through the hardships of war. I hope that opposition parties will unite in order to defeat the ruling coalition in this summer’s Upper House election.”

On the same day, in Ehime’s Matsuyama City in southwestern Japan, peace activists held a rice-cake making festival near a local shrine crowded with people paying their first visits of the New Year there. Handing out rice cakes, those activists called on visitors to sign a petition seeking the repeal of the unconstitutional security legislation.

Past related article:
> High school students in Tokyo and Osaka hold demos calling for abolishing war laws [December 20, 2015]