Tens of thousands of peace-loving Japanese citizens participated in a rally in Tokyo on Constitution Memorial Day on Saturday to show their support for peace and express their opposition to constitutional amendments. Observed on May 3 every year, the memorial day commemorates the 1947 enactment of Japan's pacifist constitution, which includes Article 9, a clause that renounces the nation's right to engage in war or to resort to military force to resolve international conflicts.
At the rally, participants displayed banners reading "Protect the Constitution, Safeguard World Peace" and voiced concerns about the growing push for military expansion.
"Japan's current constitution prohibits the country from waging war. However, there is an increasing movement within Japanese society pushing for constitutional amendments," said a participant.
"The key point is that Japan must never wage war again. Japan has previously invaded China, the Korean Peninsula, and Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines. We must ensure that aggression will never happen again," said another participant.
Taku Yamazoe, a Japanese senator, also joined the rally and emphasized the importance of maintaining a pacifist constitution to ease regional tensions.
"Amid Japan's ongoing military buildup, and proposals for closer integration with the United States to strengthen its military forces and efforts to fuel regional tensions, it is even more crucial to reaffirm and demonstrate the importance of a diplomatic approach based on a pacifist constitution," said Taku Yamazoe.
Some participants argued that the Japanese government should focus more on improving the people's livelihood rather than expanding military forces.
"This is my wallet, and there is some money in it. The key question is, where should this money be spent? Should it be used for the military or for social welfare? When asked where it should be allocated, I believe that rather than spending it on the military, it should be invested in improving people's lives, or in other words, in the field of social welfare," said a participant.
Rally held in Tokyo on Japan's Constitution Memorial Day to honor peace, oppose constitional amendments
