The Fight to Maintain Japan's Article 9

People rally in front of the Japanese Diet on Wednesday, as the ruling bloc bulldozed security bills through at a special committee of the Lower House

ARTICLE 9 (Japanese Constitution)

Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, 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.

To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, 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.

The US wants Japan to throw out its post-WW II peace constitution (Article 9) and to join the Pentagon global military juggernaut aimed at Russia and China. The right-wing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (the grandson of a WWII Japanese fascist military leader) in Tokyo is more than happy to accommodate the US plan for full spectrum dominance.  US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy (another 'good' Democrat) is there on the case to make sure it all happens without too much controversy.  But the Japanese peace movement is responding with large protests and more than 60% of the Japanese people oppose this move to war.

Japan has a long history of war making in the region.  The Japanese invaded Korea in 1592 on its way to China.  Then there was the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895) between Japan and China.  The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) saw the Russians suffer a humiliating defeat by the Japanese Navy. During WW II again China and much of the Asia-Pacific was attacked and occupied by the imperial Japanese military.  

China and Russia are both on the alert as they witness a resurging Japanese militarist  Abe administration, cheered on by the US pivot of 60% of its military forces into the region, being aimed at China and Russia.

The US strategy is to get Japan to 'interpret Article 9 differently' - allowing its current Self Defense Forces to go out and engage in combat activity with the hyper-active US military not only in the Asia-Pacific but anywhere in the world.  The US has already made Japan (along with South Korea, Australia and New Zealand) full NATO 'partners'. 

The Japan Times report on the protests yesterday in Tokyo include the following:

“We have to stop the war legislation,” chanted participants from labor unions and pacifist organizations as banners flapped.

“We will not die for Abe. Don’t send young people to war,” they cried, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Participant Yukie Tomoda, from Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, said she feared the bills could raise the risk of Japan being involved in war.