Toyohiko Kagawa: "By the abandonment of war, we in Japan have emerged from the era of barbarism."

A typical modern state, encumbered with its heavy armaments but well-nigh bereft of other values...today seems nearer to the stage of barbarism than do many individuals. By the abandonment of war, we in Japan have emerged from the era of barbarism. Thus we have been afforded a chance to make ourselves the most progressive and civilized of all nations.

If we had only done this willingly ten years ago, history would have taken another course. But it is not too late for us.

Our new constitution will become a milestone in the realization of world peace.

After Presbyterian minister, labor rights activist, anti-war protester (jailed during World War II), and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Toyohiko Kagawa wrote this 1946; he helped lead the post-war grassroots Japanese struggle to preserve Article 9 against Cold Warriors intent on rescinding both the pacifist spirit and the law itself.