Tens of thousands of peace protesters thronged the streets of central Tokyo on Sunday, in the largest demonstrations yet against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s controversial plans to alter Japan’s military stance.
The protests are a culmination of weeks of demonstrations and come at a time when China’s military aggrandisement and breakneck physical expansion of islands in the South China Sea is perceived in some quarters as a rising threat to Asian stability.
Attended by 120,000, the protest on Sunday was the latest attempt to convince politicians to vote against a set of security bills that would, among other changes, allow Japan to join in collective self-defence with its allies and to dispatch its military to fight abroad.
Under Mr Abe’s leadership, say analysts, the direction of Japanese military procurement and training appears to reflect growing concern over Chinese territorial assertiveness.
The security bills are dependent upon Mr Abe’s 2014 “reinterpretation” of Japan’s constitution — a document written by the US after Japan’s defeat in 1945. The constitution is still cherished by millions of Japanese who see it as the reason the country’s military has not fired a bullet in anger for 70 years.
At one point yesterday hundreds of demonstrators chanted verbatim the key phrases of Article 9 of the constitution; the so-called “peace clause” that renounces war and which many see as diluted by Mr Abe’s legislation.
“This is the last chance we have to preserve Japan’s worldwide reputation as a country of peace,” said Ryu Hitaka, a 79 year-old veteran of Japan’s mass demonstrations in the 1960s, where thousands rallied against the security treaty with the US forged by Mr Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi.
“If this law passes, that’s it. Article 9 is basically dead. Abe tells us that he is making the country safer, but what he is really doing is preparing a nation to make war,” said Mr Hitaka.
Many of the older participants in the demonstrations said that Mr Abe had not learned the lessons of Japan’s militaristic past, and that China also now risks falling into the same dark hole.
Their comments reflect a growing sense of unease in Japan ahead of China’s planned military parade on September 3 to mark what the ruling Communist Party in Beijing calls the “anniversary of victory in the war of Japanese aggression”.
The Chinese government is preparing to lock-down the heart of Beijing for a bristling display of military might and national ambition. The parade will include 12,000 troops and 500 vehicles and is surrounded by tight security.
While ostensibly a public event, the government has made it clear that the only way to see it is from the official parade stand on Tiananmen Square or on television. At least two foreign journalists living along the parade route were visited on the eve of a rehearsal last week by teams from the public security bureau and warned they would be deported if they watched or filmed.
The parade is to culminate in tanks rolling through the symbolically resonant Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of Chinese students were massacred in 1989 by soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army, ending weeks of protests in a bloodbath.
Several prominent world leaders, including Mr Abe, have decided not to attend, and of the major countries to participate in the second world war only Russia will be represented at head of state level, with President Vladimir Putin flying in and sending a cohort of Russian troops to march with Chinese soldiers.
The parade comes at a time when Sino-Japanese relations are at a delicate juncture. Although Mr Abe recently managed to end a diplomatic deadlock between Tokyo and Beijing, territorial disputes, in particular over a set of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, remain stubbornly unresolved and potentially explosive.
However, Zhang Ming, China’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, recently sought to play down tensions with Japan and concerns over the parade.
“[China has] stressed several times that the celebrations are not targeting specific countries, not Japan or its people. It has no direct link to current Sino-Japanese relations,” said Mr Zhang.
Meanwhile, everyone living along the route of the parade has been warned: absolutely no watching. Residents have been told to stay away from windows and balconies, lest they actually catch sight of the 12,000 troops and 500 vehicles in the parade.
Meanwhile, Yuka Inagawa, a Tokyo resident attending the demonstration on Sunday, expressed concerns over rising militarism in the region.
“You cannot celebrate peace by showing off the machines of war. I hope that the Chinese see what is happening today in Tokyo and realise that this [increased militarism] is the wrong way for any country.”
在方才曩昔的這個禮拜天，數萬名寧靜請願者把東京市中間街道擠得水泄欠亨，舉辦了否決日本輔弼安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)有爭議的轉變國度軍事姿勢籌劃的迄今最大範圍請願。
這次抗議使數周的請願運動到達熱潮。此次請願運動產生之時，正值該地域地緣政治局面日益重要之際。某些方面以為，中國的軍事誇耀和在南中國海的快速填海造島，對亞洲的穩固日趨組成威逼。
上周日有12萬人加入的抗議運動，是說服官場人士投票否決一攬子平安法案的最新試下，這些平安法案和別的轉變聯合在一路，將許可日本與友邦一路舉行團體自衛，並出動部隊在外洋作戰。
剖析人士表現，在安倍晉三引導下，日本的軍事采購和練習偏向仿佛反應該國愈來愈擔心中國在國土題目上的強勢。
相幹平安法案依附於安倍在2014年對日本憲法作出的“從新說明”;日本憲法是美國在1945年日本敗北後寫成的。它至今遭到數以百萬計的日本人的珍愛，被視為該國部隊70年來從未卷入實戰的緣故原由。
昨天，數百名請願者一度逐字高呼憲法第9條的癥結短語，即所謂的“寧靜條目”，由於它宣布廢棄戰斗，在很多人看來，這一條目被安倍晉三出爐的法案稀釋了。
“這是咱們保護日本作為一個寧靜國度的環球榮譽的末了機遇，”現年79歲的Ryu Hitaka表現。他曾在上世紀60年月加入日本的大範圍請願運動，其時不計其數人抗議安倍晉三的外祖父岸信介(Nobusuke Kishi)與美國殺青的安保合同。
“假如這部司法獲得經由過程，那就甚麽都完了。第9條根本上就死了。安倍告知咱們，他正在使國度變得加倍平安，但他真正做的是讓天下預備好動員戰斗，”Hitaka表現。
加入請願的很多年長人士表現，安倍晉三沒有吸取日本軍國主義汗青的教導，而中國如今也有大概墜入雷同的深淵。
他們的談吐反應出，在中國定於9月3日舉辦閱兵式，懷念在北京在朝的共產黨所稱的“抗日戰斗成功懷念日”前夜，日本海內的不安情感愈來愈猛烈。
中國當局正預備在北京的心臟地帶揚眉吐氣地展現軍究竟力和民族理想。接收校閱閱兵的將有1.2萬官兵和500輛各型車輛，閱兵式的四周將實施周密保安。
只管號稱大眾運動，但當局已明白表現，只有從天安門廣場的觀禮台或電視上能力旁觀。棲身在受閱軍隊行進線路上的最少兩名外國記者在上周彩排前夜被公安職員上門告誡：假如他們旁觀或拍攝，他們將被驅趕出境。
閱兵式的熱潮將是坦克編隊駛過具備意味意義、讓人遐想起舊事的天安門廣場;1989年，解放軍在這裏對連續數周的抗議運動履行武力清場，致使數百邏輯學死活亡。
多位著名的天下列國引導人，包含安倍晉三，已決議不加入，在第二次天下大戰的重要參戰國中，只有俄羅斯的國度元首將出席。除總統弗拉基米爾渠京(Vladimir Putin)外，一支俄軍分隊將與中國部隊一路接收校閱閱兵。
中國舉辦閱兵式之際，中日幹系正處在一個奧妙的關隘。固然安倍晉三比來勝利停止了東京和北京之間的交際僵局，但國土爭端，特別是環繞東中國海一個無人棲身的島群的爭端，仍辣手地未能辦理，並且大概激化。
但是，中外洋交部副部長張明比來試圖淡化中日之間的重要，化解日方對中國閱兵運動的擔心。
“咱們已屢次指出，運動不針對特定國度，不針對本日的日本，更不針對寬大日本國民，”張明表現。
同時，受閱軍隊行進線路沿線的全部住民都已獲得告誡：絕對弗成以旁觀。住民們被告訴，要闊別窗戶和陽台，省得他們看見接收校閱閱兵的1.2萬軍隊和500輛軍用車輛。
與此同時，參加之周日請願運動的東京市民Yuka Inagawa表達了對付亞洲地域軍國主義突起的擔心。
“你弗成能經由過程誇耀作戰兵器來慶賀寧靜。我願望中國看到本日東京的排場，意想到(軍國主義昂首)對任何國度都是岔路支路。”
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