Hundreds of citizens protest against revising Japan-U.S. defense guideline

Hundreds of citizens gathered in front of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office to protest against revising Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guideline on Monday evening.

The sponsor of the rally pointed out that issuing a revised defense cooperation guideline before the approval of relevant security-related bills is Abe administration's trick. "The revised guideline, which should view those bills as prerequisite, will become an established fact and will exert pressure to the Diet on security bills' discussions," it said, adding the move undermines the country's democracy and should not be tolerated.

Japan and the U.S. are set to issue their revised defense guideline when their defense and foreign ministers meet later in the day in New York. They may agree to strengthen their bilateral alliance through the Japanese Self Defense Forces' (SDF) greater cooperation with the U.S. military by getting rid of geographical constraints for SDF activities and ensuring their forces can deal with the changing security environment in a "seamless" manner from peacetime to contingencies.

Regarding this, Kinoshita, who participated in the protest said Japan is one step closer to a military country under the decision of the Cabinet last year to lift the ban on collective self- defense. "Now the revised guideline will push it further," he said.

Kase, another protester said"Japan must not return to military country when the world is reflecting on past wars at the 70th anniversary of the World War II. (The recovery of militarism) will also be an obstacle for Japan to improve relations with its neighboring countries." Endit