Opponents of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to revise the Constitution of Japan, a key element of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's (LDP) platform ahead of key upper house elections this summer, held protests Thursday in Tokyo.
Abe, as well as eyeing consolidating his party's power in the upper caucus this summer, is also planning to hold a referendum thereafter on constitutional reform, with specific reference to the Supreme Law's war-renouncing Article 9.
Opponents to the move who gathered en masse in the capital said that Abe was trying to destroy a highly-revered charter that has ensured that Japan has remained a pacifist nation since the end of WWII.
A resolution adopted by the protesters Thursday stated that "Japan has been shifting straight to a country that can wage a war since the security legislation was enacted."
Towards the end of last year, Abe and his LDP-led bloc forced controversial security legislation through both chambers of Japan's bicameral parliament that will broaden the operational scope of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF), in contravention of Article 9, the second paragraph of which states that Japan cannot maintain any forces with war potential.
Abe's Cabinet controversially and unilaterally deciding to reinterpret Article 9, and its forced passage through both the upper and lower houses of parliament, triggered a nationwide backlash, with tens of thousands of regular citizens and civic groups convening daily to voice their ardent opposition, most notably, outside of parliament in the capital, with calls to uphold the war-renouncing Article 9 and for Abe to abandon his war-linked constitutional revision plans.
The protests Thursday, more of which are expected as the upper house elections draw closer, were held on what is widely regarded as a somewhat controversial national holiday, known as National Foundation Day, which celebrates Japan's Imperial family, citizenship and nationalism.
The day also saw rallies in favor of Abe's plans, although the prime minister himself has conceded he has yet to win the public's support for changing the constitution, which is synonymous with 70 years of peace Japan has enjoyed since the end of WWII.
