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Japanese march against changes to pacifist constitution

Wednesday, 30 March 2016 5:25 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 30 March 2016 5:25 AM ]

Demonstrators rally against constitutional security reforms in Tokyo, Japan, March 29, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of protesters have marched in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, to express their opposition to newly-enforced constitutional reforms that allow the country’s military to potentially engage in wars overseas.

Protesters gathered outside the parliament on Tuesday while holding banners with messages such as “Oust the Abe administration” and “We don’t condone war.” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government had proposed the reforms.

The demonstration came hours after the modifications, which had been approved by the parliament last year, came into effect.

“I don’t want Japan to be engaged in any war. I don’t want my children and our grandchildren to go to war,” said a female protester who survived US airstrikes on Tokyo during World War II as a child.

The reforms reshaped Japan’s constitution, which had been written after WWII with a pacifist tone banning the use of force as a means to resolve international disputes.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gestures during a press conference in Tokyo, March 29, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The constitution now allows Japan’s military forces to participate in foreign operations in order to protect allies such as the United States even if there was no direct threat to Tokyo.

Prime Minister Abe and his supporters viewed the former US-imposed constraints to the country’s constitution as hindering Japan from playing a robust role in international affairs.

“The security environment surrounding our country is becoming more severe,” Abe said, adding, “No country in the world can protect itself alone.”

He said that the law is part of a ‘normalization’ of Japan’s defense policy that had been limited to self-defense and aid missions.

Critics, however, believe that the modifications would damage 70 years of Japanese pacifism.

The United States has welcomed the reforms, but regional rivals China and South Korea have raised concerns about what they perceive as Tokyo’s potential expansion of its military scope.

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