Japan Press Weekly

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2014 October 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

JFBA opposes ominous moves toward war

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) on October 8 held a rally at Tokyo’s Hibiya Amphitheatre to oppose Japan’s use of the right to collective self-defense.

About 3,000 lawyers and union activists marched in demonstration through the Ginza, calling on the Abe Cabinet to retract its decision to allow the country to exercise the collective self-defense right.

Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers Kasai Akira and Kokuta Keiji (House of Representatives) as well as Inoue Satoshi, Koike Akira, and Tatsumi Kotaro (House of Councilors) took part in the action. Lawmakers of other opposition parties, including the Social Democratic Party, were also present.

JFBA President Murakoshi Susumu said to the participants, “It’s not too much to say that our organization exists to fulfill a mission to protect human rights. The worst infringement of human rights is war, and we must oppose the move to war.”

“It will be against the principle of constitutionalism if the Cabinet arbitrarily changes the accepted constitutional interpretation,” he added.

Miyazaki Reiichi, former director-general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, also spoke in opposition to Japan’s Self-Defense Forces using armed force abroad under the collective self-defense right.