June 18, 2026

“The postwar Constitution was enacted as a promise not to engage in war. Voicing ‘No’ to constitutional revision means to voice ‘No’ to war.” Mystery novelist, Okura Takahiro, who is also a screenwriter for the latest “Detective Conan” movie, said this in an Akahata interview article published on June 18. An excerpt of his interview is as follows:

“In May, I spoke at the ‘Otaku Anti-war Protest’ held near the Diet building and came under fire on social media. For example, messages stating, ‘Don’t use such a person!’, were sent to companies associated with the 29th Detective Conan film, ‘The Fallen Angel of the Highway (now showing in the cinemas)’ for which I wrote the screenplay. In addition, I received hate messages, such as ‘I’ll never watch anything you’ve worked on.’ I have a strong sense of fear that the freedom of expression is being eroded.

During the wartime period, mystery novels were subject to government suppression. In 1939, censorship by the Imperial government intensified. Under this situation, the book of Edogawa Rampo, one of the pioneers in the Japanese mystery literature genre, ‘Imomushi (The Caterpillar)’, a short story about a quadruple amputee war veteran, was banned. After Japan entered into the Pacific War, the detective fiction genre was in a state of collapse.

Under a war-mongering government, it is entertainment that would be crushed first and foremost.

The current Constitution was enacted as a promise not to engage in war. To oppose constitutional amendment amplifies the anti-war promise. The pacifist Constitution is, in a good way, Japan’s feature that remains unchanged. If this constitution were revised, Japan would turn into a nation that ‘normally’ sells weapons for profit and ‘normally’ wages wars. Eventually, people might start to say, ‘America launches Japan-made missiles.’ I’m determined to oppose constitutional revision until the very end. That’s what I think.”