May 3 is Constitution Day in Japan. On this day, about 50,000 Japanese citizens held a rally at Tokyo's Ariake Disaster Prevention Park to defend the constitution, calling for upholding the pacifist constitution and opposing war and military expansion.
According to China News Service, several Japanese parliamentarians, experts and scholars, and ordinary citizen representatives were invited to speak at the rally. At the event, many participants held signs reading 'Stop Military Expansion' and 'No to War,' expressing their firm support for the idea of peace.
Japan's current constitution came into force on May 3, 1947, and is known as the 'Pacifist Constitution.' Article 9 of the constitution provides that Japan forever renounces war, or the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes; Japan shall not maintain land, sea, or air forces or other war potential; the right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized. However, recently, Japanese Prime Minister and LDP President Sanae Takaichi declared at the LDP convention that she hopes to make progress in proposing constitutional amendments by next year's convention, fueling concerns among the public regarding a forcible push for revision.
Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said at the gathering that the Takaichi Cabinet's recent unbanning of lethal weapons exports is extremely dangerous. Japan must never become a 'merchant of death' that profits from the export of deadly weapons.
Masakatsu Adachi, Honorary Professor at Kanto Gakuin University, who attended the rally, told reporters from China News Service that the Takaichi government’s attempt to revise the constitution would drag Japan into the abyss of war once again, and peacefully amending the constitution must not be allowed.
A mother who attended the rally with her child told reporters, 'I oppose war, and we must absolutely defend Article 9 of the Constitution. For the sake of the next generation, Japan must never walk the path of war again.'