Roundup: Japan protests against Abe's war bills ahead of upper house vote next week

Thousands gathered around Japan's National Diet building in central Tokyo on Friday evening to voice their opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration's push to recast Japan's military by way of forcing unconstitutional security legislation through parliament.

With the highly unpopular war bills currently being debated between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition and opposition parties in Japan's upper house of parliament, with the legislation possibly being enacted as early as next week, the majority of citizens stand united in opposition to the passage of the bills, which thwart the constitution, potentially reverse decades of pacifism and could force the nation into combative situations in active theaters across the globe.

While numbers on Friday were less than the record 120,000 protesters who gathered in front of the Diet building on Aug. 30, owing to inclement weather this evening, throngs of demonstrations bearing placards called for the government to uphold the war- renouncing Constitution -- in particular Article 9 therein which prohibits Japan from maintaining a combative military or using force as a means of settling international disputes -- as well as for the controversial bills to be scrapped entirely and for Abe to step down as the nation's leader.

As with previous demonstrations that have been increasing in frequency of late around the country, people from all walks of life were represented Friday, from young to old, with the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) group, one of the principal organizers of Friday's protest, becoming ever-more prominent and reflecting the mounting opposition to Abe's war maneuvers from the youth in Japan.

Tetsuya Murata, a founding member of SEALDs, told Xinhua ahead of Friday's demonstration that young people in Japan would continue their anti-war campaign through such "street politics" with the aim of ensuring their message spreads to as many of their peers across the nation as possible, garners as much media attention as it can, and captures the ear of those outside of Japan.

"As we have done at previous demonstrations, we rally a great deal of support thorough our social media networks, including Twitter and Facebook, and we're mobilizing more and more young people at these events and educating thousands of other young people along the way about the very real threat Abe's war legislations poses to Japan," Murata said.

"It's important that young people know exactly what is going on in politics and how democracy is being compromised by a leadership that doesn't care what the public thinks. We're the ones that will inherit this country, so we have to take a stand now and do everything we can to make sure the future here is a safe and peaceful one," he said.

SEALDs' sentiments were echoed across all age groups Friday, with a non-partisan group of retirees all decked out in the same anti-fascist T-shirts, holding placards which read: "No war," " Uphold Article 9," and "Abe out!"

Sixty-eight year old Kenji Yamashita said that for seven decades Japan had enjoyed a peaceful existence and that such pacifism was the very foundation of Japan's ideological, social and economic success and that Abe's government was only going to derail this.

"No good can come of this legislation and we all stand opposed to Abe's plans to allow the Self-Defense Forces a broader military role in the world. This move can only lead to innocent lives here being put in harms way and for what? A wayward leader's legacy? The approval of the United States? Regardless, the true reasons will never justify this unconstitutional action and the government forcing the country to take such a huge step backwards," the impassioned senior citizen told Xinhua, adding that his generation grew up in the aftermath of war and know how regrettable Japan's actions were in WWII.

Along with antiwar and anti-Abe civic groups, opposition party seniors continue to voice their opposition to the bills and have vociferously called for the government to abandon its bellicose military plans.

Katsuya Okada, leader of the main Democratic Party of Japan ( DPJ), and Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party ( JCP), have been prominent political figures at such protests, and have pledged to work together to pressurize Abe into abandoning the bills.

Okada has stated that the public has gone into "crisis" mode and was extremely angry at Abe, while the JCP's Shii previously stated that the war legislation would ultimately be stopped as opposition to the bills continues to spread across the nation.

In addition, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano, has repeatedly blasted Abe, saying that if the prime minister ignores the nation' s calls to scarp the bills, he would simultaneously be ignoring democracy.

Political watchers concur that Abe, whose support rate has taken a nosedive since he rammed the bills through the lower house, not allowing for adequate parliamentary debate, should be mindful of the nation's growing enmity, as opposition parties are commanding more support, to the point that the DPJ are eyeing a general election possibly running in twine with the upper house elections next summer.

"The protests now are reminiscent of the protests we witnessed in the 1970s, but haven't seen in Japan since, and this is a clear sign that the entire country is hugely disgruntled and is demanding change and while Abe's position as the nation's and LDP leader is secure for now, if public pressure continues to intensify, it will play into the hands of the opposition bloc," political analyst Teruhisa Muramatsu told Xinhua in a recent interview. Endi