High school students take 5,000 antiterrorism signatures to government

Twenty high school students on December 26 visited the Foreign Ministry to present some 5,000 signatures calling for opposition to terrorism and retaliatory wars.

These students started their signature campaign late last October pledging to collect more than 10,000 signatures.

Earlier on the day, they took to the streets in front of JR Shibuya Station in Tokyo which attracts many young men and women, and collected about 300 signatures. Five high school students from New York took part in the campaign, saying that some of their teachers and friends have lost their family members and friends in the terror attacks. They appealed to passers-by in English and Japanese for no more wars.

The students told a division chief of the Foreign Ministry North American Affairs Bureau that many young people want a peaceful solution of the matter, not war.

House of Councilors Member Ogata Yasuo of the Japanese Communist Party accompanied them to the Foreign Ministry. (end)