Feature: Japan artists release anti-war picture book, call for blocking constitutional revision

Japanese artists have called on Wednesday for blocking the revision of the country's pacifist constitution while releasing a new anti-war book.

"No longer make excuses for wars. No longer make tools for wars. No longer let any child die (of wars)..." Keiko Hamada, a well-known Japanese picture-book author told the audience of some 100 people in a Tokyo picture book store "Crayon House."

Hamada recited the above words from her recently-published picture book "Don't Let Any Child Die of War," with pictures drawn by Hamada and the narratives written by Minako Saigo, founder of a civil group called Mothers Against War.

The two authors shared with the audience about what had inspired them to create the book.

Saigo, mother of three children and PhD candidate in education, said that she and some other mothers felt in 2015 that public discussions about the controversial security legislation would be hardly relevant as the government was already hard-set on enacting the legislation despite public opposition.

"The government's making preparations for wars," she said, as the security legislation, often dubbed as "war legislation," would allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces to fight wars overseas for the first time since the end of World War II.

Article 9 of Japan's pacifist constitution states that "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."

It goes on to state that ... "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."

However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last Wednesday that he hoped to see a revised constitution go into effect in 2020 under a plan that will see the first-ever change to the post-war charter.

To prevent their children from the risks of being involved in future wars, the mothers including Saigo founded the group Mothers Against War in April 2015, and held their first rally in Tokyo in July 2015 with over 2,000 people participating.

Hamada, also an initiator and participant of the rally around two years ago, said that the activities of the group Mothers Against War inspired her to draw the picture book.

"The book is not only for children, but also for all people in the society. It embodies our firm determination to not to allow wars to happen again," she said.

"Now the government is trying to revise the pacifist constitution, despite the opposition of many people. We hope this book could inspire and mobilize more people (to fight against it)," she added.

Saigo said that the government's power shall be subject to the constitution but what Abe has done is damaging and even overthrowing the authority of the constitution.

"We shall voice our concerns... (The government) shall not hype up conflicts between different countries. Life is precious and shall not be taken away by wars," she said.

Some 100 people attended the event here marking the release of the anti-war picture book and calling on the government to scrap the controversial security laws and maintain the pacifist constitution.

Public opinions about amending the constitution remain differed.

According to a recent poll by Japan's Kyodo News, 51 percent of the respondents were against any constitutional amendments under the Abe administration, while 45 percent were in favor. Enditem