An estimated 50,000 people protested in Tokyo on Sunday to express their defiance of the government’s plan to revise the Constitution, particularly to amend Article 9, which rejects war and restricts the country’s military.
What are the government’s proposed changes to the Constitution?
The government, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, has been pushing to amend the pacifist constitution, which officials say is no longer appropriate for today’s security challenges.
The constitution was enacted on May 3, 1947, after the World War II Allied occupation.
Takaichi said the constitution needs to be updated periodically to adapt to changes and the needs of the country, adding that officials should hold discussions to make a decision on the matter, The Independent reported.
One of the revisions proposed by the government is the formal recognition of the Japan Self-Defence Forces (SDF).
Conservative members are also calling for the removal of paragraph 2 of Article 9, which states that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes”.
“In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognised.”
According to Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), Article 9 should be deleted and a national defence force should be added.
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What do the opposition and the Japanese people have to say?
With banners that read “STOP Constitutional Revision and Military Expansion”, and while chanting “No to War” and “Protect the Peace Constitution”, demonstrators at Sunday’s protests gathered at different locations in Tokyo to denounce any plans to revise the constitution.
At a separate Tokyo gathering, opposition party lawmakers, including Tadatomo Yoshida of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Tomoko Tamura of the Japanese Communist Party, said Article 9 should be protected.
Yoshida described Article 9 as Japan’s “treasure”.
A Kyodo News poll found that 73 per cent of respondents believed constitutional changes should only proceed with agreement across multiple political parties, rather than being driven solely by the ruling party.
In a separate survey, the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun reported that 57 per cent of respondents supported constitutional revisions, while the more liberal Asahi Shimbun found support at just 47 per cent.
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