Japan Press Weekly

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2025 October 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

Resolution labeling civil protest against SDF as discriminatory is forcibly passed at Okinawa Pref. Assembly

The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly at its plenary meeting on October 8 adopted a resolution which accuses Okinawans’ legitimate protest against the Self-Defense Forces of being “discriminatory” by a majority vote, including the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

The Japanese Communist Party opposed the adoption of the resolution as it denies the constitutional right to freedom of thought and belief as well as basic human rights.

In a discussion prior to the vote, LDP prefectural assemblyperson Arakaki Yoshitoyo in support of the resolution referred to local residents’ protest against the SDF’s participation in the Zento Eisa Festival, the largest traditional dance event of Okinawa, and against the holding of military drills at a tourism facility in Miyakojima City. He criticized that that kind of protest as “discriminatory” and took a stance of intervening in Okinawans’ free speech.

After the assembly meeting, JCP Prefectural Assemblymember Toguchi Osamu said to the press, “The resolution is totally unacceptable as it proposes uniting people under a specific ideology like the emperor-based ideology during the Pacific War.”

It is outrageous to adopt a resolution which attempts to target local protests against any policies that take for granted the possibility of turning Okinawa into a battlefield.

The LDP’s move to submit the resolution stemmed from civil groups’ call for the cancellation of the SDF’s participation in the Zento Eisa Festival slated for September.

During the Battle of Okinawa 80 years ago, the Imperial Japanese military’s strategy to use Okinawa as a “sacrificial lamb” took a heavy toll on Okinawan people. Many Okinawans were raising their voices in protest against the performance of the SDF in the annual Eisa event honoring their ancestors and the victims of the Battle of Okinawa.

Past related articles:
> Amid fierce protest from Okinawans, anti-ship missile equipment deployed in SDF base in Uruma City [March 11, 2024]
> Okinawans form new group to prevent Okinawa from again being used as a battlefield [September 25, 2023]