Feature: Prominent student protest group in Japan eyes taking down Abe, LDP at upper house elections

A student-based body that has grown in prominence in the months leading up to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe forcing the nation away from 70 years of post-war pacifism by ensuring contentious war bills were enacted into law recently, maintains that the situation in Japan is still critical and much needs to be done to change Abe's autocratic system.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), representatives from the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) group which, in the street demonstrations ahead, during and after the controversial war bills were rammed through the lower house of parliament to finally be enacted during rowdy scenes of dissent in the upper house, became one of the loudest and most visible anti-war, anti-Abe and pro-democracy groups rallying among the hundreds of thousands that gathered daily at the Diet building, said that Japan is still facing serious problems.

Ken Suwahara, one of the group's senior members, maintained that Japan is currently facing a monumental problem that is threatening to attack the very founding principles of the nation's democratic ideology.

"What is happening in Japan is a serious issue and the political problems are attacking the very foundation of the country's democratic principles. One of the biggest points that needs to be debated henceforth is constitutional democracy in upcoming campaigns," he said.

"In order to achieve this we must gain the cooperation of the main opposition parties and implore them to go beyond their own political differences to unite and collectively appeal to the public and help educate them to be more aware of the nature of how politics is being slyly conducted in Japan," Suwahara said.

He was referring to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party under the stewardship of its leader, Prime Minister Abe, and initially his hand-picked Cabinet's unilateral move to reinterpret a key war-renouncing clause of the nation's Constitution, which prohibits Japan from maintaining a navy, air, or sea force and also prohibits the country from using forces as a means of settling international disputes.

But Abe and his Cabinet, having decided they could take the liberty to single-handedly reinterpret the Constitution, paved the war for the subsequent war bills to be rammed through the lower house of parliament, where the LDP-led coalition hold a majority, while deciding such changes didn't call for a public mandate or referendum or even substantial deliberations with the opposition camp.

Once the bills had passed the lower house, the upper house was a mere formality as the ruling coalition also hold sway over this chamber too, but around about this time, the public began to realize the gravity of the situation and the very real fact that the passing of these bills could see Japan dragged into a U.S-led war or called to defend its allies in active war theaters that could lead to Japanese lives being lost in the process, or Japan being viewed as an "enemy" nation by extremists, for example, and the fight brought to Japanese shores.

The SEALDs group are under no illusions that the nature in which Japan's new expanded military scope was achieved politically and the ramifications the country could now be facing are extreme and as such, the group is still in "crisis mode," urging the public and opposition parties to up their game ahead of the upcoming upper house elections.

Nobukazu Honma, another prominent member of the group believes the problem facing the nation is now a complex one, but maintained that SEALDs and their numerous affiliates, both political and civilian, are all aware of this and are not being, by any means, naive in their approach, despite many of the core members still being of university age.

"We don't regard the task facing us as being a single one as we know the political system is difficult and we are not naive about these. We want to collect as much information as possible to truly gauge what is happening in the political world, to better appeal to society with information here, information that may not be reported in the press," Honma explained.

"There are internal struggles going on between the top opposition parties and we are aware that what we are proposing is unprecedented in the political world and because we are trying to create something new there are going to be some 'birthing pains,' but we must make politicians understand that what we are doing is absolutely necessary," he said.

He was referring to the urgent necessity of opposition parties creating more of a united front with the public, so as to stand a chance of bringing about the kind of change this country definitely needs at this critical juncture and make this definitively seen during the upper house elections.

For SEALDs part they said that in the run-up to the elections they would firstly campaign for more polling booths as voter turnout for major elections is still disappointing; and have these booths placed at high-volume public places like train stations and university campuses and to let these zones also double up as a place where dialogue and debate can freely take place, as only then can the public truly begin to learn about politics at its grassroots level.

In addition, the group said that through their well-honed ability to use technology, including social media and regular media technology, they would be producing a wealth of information online, in printed form and in video, that would highlight which candidates they were supporting and why, while simultaneously doing their utmost to derail any candidates who continue to support Abe and his war moves.

But the group explained that for their plan to simultaneously help and derail candidates in the upper house election to be effective, the public and the opposition parties need to be on side and the first step towards achieving this is honest, open and frank communication.

"Any Diet member who supports the war legislation we will target to lose, conversely single candidates who oppose the legislation will be offered as much supports as possible by us, as we are committed to this cause, but we need to encourage people in society to speak up, particularly on political issues. At the heart of a democratic society is a fundamental principle that people with diverse opinions must be able to live together harmoniously," said group member Yasumasa Chiba.

"For this to happen people need to learn how to effectively dialogue and debate and reach compromises to maintain social harmony and we wish to create a society in Japan where that happens," Chiba concluded. Enditem