On the evening of the 19th, over ten thousand Japanese citizens held a protest rally in front of the National Diet Building in Tokyo, opposing a series of dangerous moves by the Kōichi Sanae government in areas including historical perception and security guarantees.
According to the organizers, about 15,000 people attended the rally in person, with another 25,000 participating online. On site, protesters held placards reading "Oppose military expansion" and chanted slogans such as "Protect the Peace Constitution" and "Sanae Kōichi step down immediately." One of the themes of the rally was "Politicians who do not reflect on war or acknowledge the history of aggression should immediately step down."
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, said in an interview that Sanae Kōichi did not mention reflection on the war at the August 15th "National Memorial Ceremony for the Fallen in the War."
She pointed out that Sanae Kōichi made ambiguous statements regarding the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles" at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing memorial events, and did not clearly state that Japan would continue to adhere to these principles, "which is a very serious problem."
Recently, the Sanae Kōichi government has accelerated military expansion, continued to greatly increase military spending, relaxed restrictions on the export of lethal weapons, advanced the deployment of medium- and long-range missiles, expanded offensive military forces, and pushed for amending the Peace Constitution.