June 20 & 21, 2026

Amid the Takaichi government’s attempt to transform Japan into an offensive war-capable nation, 26,000 individuals assembled in front of the main gate of the Diet building on June 19, chanting, “Protect Article 9 of the Constitution!”

Speaking at the rally, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira called on the crowd, “Let’s raise our voices to defend parliamentary democracy and not allow the government to move toward authoritarian rule.”

Speeches in solidarity were also given by Fukushima Mizuho (Upper House), leader of the Social Democratic Party; Arita Yoshifu (Lower House) of the Centrist Reform Alliance; and Konishi Hiroyuki (Upper House) of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. The Upper House caucus “Okinawa Whirlwind” sent a message of support to the rally.

A woman whose parents divorced due to her father’s domestic violence said, “The LDP in its draft for constitutional amendment proposes that ‘family members shall help one another.’ I don’t want a Japan that imposes an ‘ideal family model’. I would prefer a society where no one is compelled to accept anything.”

Commenting on the recently-enacted “special measures law to facilitate the mobilization of government employees as SDF reservists”, a woman whose husband is a municipal ambulance officer said, “I suppose civil servants chose their job out of a desire to protect people’s lives and their communities. I don’t want them to be forcibly tasked with military duty.”

A high school teacher said that after WWII, teachers vowed never to send their students to fight in wars again. He added, “I am a Japanese language teacher. I teach children the language to help them expand their minds and experience freedom to think independently, never to make them subservient to authority.”

A high school student who will soon turn 18 expressed his anxiety about becoming an adult. He said, “If the Constitution is amended, I might be drafted once I become 18. I don’t want to kill anyone, and I’m too young to die.”