A group of Japanese citizens on Saturday gathered in Tokyo to protest against Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's push toward militarization, including constitutional revision, sharp increases in defense spending, and lifting bans on exporting lethal weapons.
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) approved on Tuesday a draft proposal to revise the country's three key security documents later this year, Kyodo News reported.
The proposal, formalized at the party's decision-making General Council, called for securing necessary funding to transform Japan's defense capabilities within five years.
Carrying banners and chanting slogans, demonstrators voiced deep concern over what they saw as an ongoing erosion of Japan's post-war pacifist principles.
"Japan's food self-sufficiency rate is already extremely low. Rather than engaging in arms deals, it is far more important to secure stable food supplies through dialogue and cooperation with other countries," said a protester.
The rally is part of a broader wave of grassroots opposition to Takaichi's shifting security policy, whose administration has pledged to accelerate a military buildup amid regional tensions.
Protesters warn that such moves risk dragging Japan further away from its exclusively defense-oriented posture enshrined in the post-war constitution.
"The mechanisms currently in place to constrain defense spending growth are becoming increasingly weak. Japan used to have a limit of 1 percent of GDP on defense spending, but this limit has been gradually broken down, and now there seems to be no upper limit. I hope the Japanese government can set clear limits on the growth of defense spending," said another protester.
"The government's decision to enact a bill that could potentially prepare for war without sufficient dialogue or adequate public disclosure fills me with extreme unease and anger," said another protester.
Japanese activists rally against Takaichi's military expansion push
