#risewithhenoko: "Our Island's Treasure" tells the story of Henoko, Okinawa's elders' struggle to save their sacred coral reef and dugong ecosystem for future generations

Our Island's Treasure (私達の島の宝) from Kaiya Yonamine on Vimeo.

#RiseforHenoko - Kaiya Yonamine of Global Uchinanchu Alliance　グローバルうちなんちゅ同盟: May 31, 2019 - asks that supporters of Henoko's coral reef and dugong ecoregion and advocates of planetary survival, please spread, and share the link to her documentary film “Our Island’s Treasure” Documentary ドキュメンタリー映画「私達の島の宝.  Please tag environmental orgs, human rights and indigenous rights groups, media and teacher groups.

“Our Island’s Treasure" tells the story about the indigenous Uchinanchu people's fight to protect their sacred dugong and coral reef ocean in Henoko, Okinawa from Japanese government landfill and construction of an offshore US military training airstrip and port (over an ecoregion covered with quicksand pits which will take years to reinforce, if possible, and an earthquake zone).

Frustrated by the lack of media coverage of the Okinawan 22- year struggle to save Okinawa's last intact, healthiest and most biodiverse coral reef and best dugong ecosystem, mother and daughter team, Moe and Kaiya Yonamine, made and sold thousands of cookies and paper cranes to raise funds to pay for flights and to stay in Okinawa.  They went to Henoko to support their elders

"This is one of the most biodiverse ocean regions on the planet and [Japanese and U.S. governments'] destruction is being done against the democratic will of the Okinawa people who voted vehemently against it," explains Moe Yonamine.

"Nonstop, our island’s people—with their bodies—are blocking construction trucks on land at sit-ins and die-ins, and—with their bodies—on kayaks, are blocking construction ships in the ocean — mostly led by hundreds of now elderly child survivors of the Battle of Okinawa," Yonamine adds.  (The air, sea, and ground fighting between Americans and Japanese in Okinawa was the bloodiest battle in their 4-year war in the Asia-Pacific.)

Kaiya Yonamine, a 17 year-old, 2nd generation Uchinanchu living in Portland, Oregon, released the trailer for her film on Earth Day.

"This documentary aims to show the fight of the elders and youth on the ground fighting to protect our ocean in Henoko and the interviews taken just weeks ago while we were there. Singing along with an old island song that I sang to her as a little girl,  and one that my grandmother sang to me, she shares  it in our indigenous language and with our indigenous instrument," Yonamine describes the beautiful song in the video trailer.

Please watch and share her trailer and HELP DISRUPT THE MEDIA SILENCE on the Sea of Henoko (not just a "less populated area in the north") but, instead, Okinawa's last intact, healthiest, most biodiverse, millennia-old coral reef, and best dugong seagrass habitat. Okinawans and their worldwide environmentalist, peace, and democracy supporters have been working for 23 years to save the Sea of Henoko.

Partial trailer transcript:

"Beautiful Sand. Proud People. Living along sparkling ocean waves. Ancient history of kings and queens. The kingdom overthrown by Japan in 1879. Violence brought upon this peaceful land during WWII.

"After the war, the U.S. put Okinawans in concentration camps while taking land to build bases. On what was left of this tiny paradise (the main island of Okinawa is 70 miles long and 7 miles wide) crammed with 32 bases, burdened with 70% of all U.S. military bases under Japan against the democratic will of the Uchinanchu people.

"Now the construction of a new base has begun. This time, in the ocean...Oura Bay is the name of the ocean that is being destroyed. This is one of the most biodiverse waters in the world bursting with life of over 5,300 species and 262 endangered species that are dependent on the sea. The Jp govt. is actively destroying this ocean. Concrete crushing coral. Using our own red soil to fill the sea. Killing our ocean.

"Kayactivists have been blocking ships. Elders have been staging sit-ins. War survivors have been blocking trucks. Raising fists. Singing island songs. Fighting for our ocean. And the media remains silent. As the destruction continues, our fight continues. We call on you to join us. And protect our ocean. Before we lose it forever."

YOU WILL FIND THE DOCUMENTARY LINK HERE ON FRIDAY, 5/31: Our Island's Treasure

Kaiya explains the urgency of her mission:

"The concrete began to be crushed in the beautiful ocean of Okinawa back in Dec..there was no media in the U.S. about it...I knew that people are fighting with their lives on the line for the ocean, for us, for all of us. So I decided I needed to take a camera and bridge us across the ocean... listening to the stories of people on the ground, I made this documentary to tell the world their story and show their fight -- our fight. The documentary is the result of interviewing Uchinanchu elders and student activists who are doing everything to protect our sacred ocean, even when the media ignores what's happening."

Okinawan American  Moe Yonamine is a teacher in Portland and a co-founder of Global Uchinanchu Alliance　グローバルうちなんちゅ同盟, which seeks to deepen connections between Overseas Okinawans and Okinawans living in their homeland (which includes the sea and all animals and plants living in the sea).

Peace for 70 years and infinity: MESSAGE FROM JAPAN to ASIAN COUNTRIES AND THE WORLD, 2015.

Via  SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy) Japan:

Published on Dec 24, 2015

《Peace for 70 years and infinity: MESSAGE FROM JAPAN to ASIAN COUNTRIES AND THE WORLD, 2015.》

Happy X'mas　そして、そろそろ今年も終わりですね。SEALDsで今年を締めくくる動画をつくりま­した。思えば激動の一年でした。法案は可決されましたが、今年得られたものはたくさん­あるはずです。戦後から70年。そして71年を迎え、戦後から100年たっても戦争し­ない国であることを願います。困難な時代にこそ希望があると信じて。そして一歩踏み出­す勇気を。
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・­・・
終戦から70年が経ちました。戦後日本の平和と繁栄は、先の大戦の大きな犠牲と引き換­えにもたらされたものです。私たちはいまこそ、この国の平和憲法の理念を支持し、それ­を北東アジア、そして世界の平和構築に役立てるべきだと考えます。自由、民主主義、普­遍的人権。それらの価値は、けっして紙に書かれた絵空事ではありません。人びとの自由­を護り、平和を築くために、過去から私たちに手渡された大切な種です。私たちがあきら­めてしまわない限り、日本国憲法の理念はその力を失うことはありません。知性と理性と­ともに、私たちは平和と、アジア諸国家の自由と民主主義の尊重を求め続けます。

Seventy years have passed since the end of war. The peace and prospect of post-war Japan were led by profound sacrifice of the war. We support the pacifist constitution of this country and use it for peacebuilding in north-east Asia and the world. Liberty, democracy, and universal human rights; these values are not just imagination. They are the important seeds that we were given by the past for defending liberty of people and constructing sustainable peace. The ideal of Japanese Constitution never loses its power unless we give it up. With intelligence and reason, we continue to claim for peace and respect for liberty and democracy in Asian Countries.

"Never Again." Japanese & Okinawan war refusal will be streamed online, if not televised, or covered by all newspapers

Left, from top: Asahi, Mainichi, and Tokyo newspapers.

 Right, from top: Yomiuri, Sankei, and Nikkei.

Via Kimberly Hughes: Notice the top three right-leaning Japanese daily newspapers, lined up in the right-hand column did not cover the sea of 120,000+ Japanese citizens at the Diet building on Sunday, August 30, protesting  PM Abe's war bills that would allow him to send Japanese soldiers to fight in US regime change wars in contravention of the Japanese Peace Constitution which outlaws war as a means of international conflict resolution. In contrast, politically centrist Japanese newspapers put coverage of the historic protests on their front pages.

 View from the streets: "NO WAR! NO ABE! We hope for peace! We love peace! 

Don't kill anyone! Save Okinawa from Shinzo Abe."

(More at SEALDs (Student Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy) English on FB) 

Despite (or because of spotty coverage in Japanese newspapers and broadcast news), the historic Japanese and Okinawan multigenerational antiwar protests have dominated youth social media as Philip Brasor points out in "The revolution will be streamed online," published on Aug. 29 at The Japan Times.  

More analysis via public scholar Jeff Kingston, again at JT, on Sept. 5, "Students oppose Abe’s assault on the Constitution":

SEALDs was launched on May 3, Constitution Day, highlighting the group’s concern that Abe’s security legislation is tantamount to a stealth revision that fails to follow proper constitutional procedures...Professor Akihiko Kimijima at Ritsumeikan University says that SEALDs wants Japan to be a nation based on the rule of law, and the group believes Abe is flouting the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. Apparently, there is no shortage of Japanese citizens who agree with them. In mid-June, three eminent constitutional scholars dismissed Abe’s security legislation as unconstitutional in Diet hearings, putting wind in SEALDs’ sails.

Kya Kim: "Conflict is no longer synonymous with war. It is, rather, an opportunity for growth, an opportunity for peace...Everyone of us has a role to play in determining the outcome of our shared conflicts...Which future will we choose?"

Myong Hee Kim, Founding Artist of Peace Mask Project at the

History+Art = Peace Festival, organized by Alpha Education, Toronto, Canada, 

August 15-21, 2015

In "The Art of Symbolism in Peace Building," an Autumn 2014 presentation about the Peace Mask Project at TEDxKyoto, team member Kya Kim emphasizes that we are all co-creators of our shared world, and can choose to think and work for a peaceful present and future:

A divided world creates more insecurity and fear. And fear, too often results in violence. Trust is the courageous act of being the first to break through that fear and reach out to "the other." Peace Mask Project is itself an act of trust, from the idealism that inspires the effort to the individual act of being a Peace Mask Model to the support and participation of hundreds of individuals in a collective effort to advance into a sane and healthy future.

Today tensions are rising in East Asia and many regions around the world. Fear and insecurity are also on the rise. This tension we are seeing does not guarantee violence, but, instead, could be seen as a great opportunity.

Conflict is natural and always present. It is neither negative nor positive in itself. Violence and repression are only one possible response to a conflict and one our societies turn to far too often.

There are many reasons for this: the profitability of militarization for a handful of corporations and individuals; the control and manipulation of a population through fear. But mostly I think it's due to a lack of creativity and cooperation. We are stuck in old habits and old ways of thinking.

Today young people have an unprecedented understanding of the greater world. We are becoming increasingly aware of how we are interconnected and interdependent. We find beauty in other cultures. And by reflecting on our own, we are open to growth and to change. This is the reality of our future, and one that needs to be reflected in our societies. Conflict is no longer synonymous with war. It is, rather, an opportunity for growth, an opportunity for peace...

We hope that Peace Mask Project will provide a platform for their shared vision of peace, to build trust by building lasting relationships, and to help them become leaders of a better world...

We do not need for the conflicts of our time to erupt in violence or be resolved through aggression. Everyone of us has a role to play in determining the outcome of our shared conflicts.

How will we participate?

What opportunities will we present through our actions?

Which future will we choose?

300,000 Japanese: "Protect the Constitution! Protect Okinawa from Shinzo Abe! Don't Start a War!"

Great video via Michael Penn of Shingetsu News Agency (SNA): Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) protest against the Abe War Bill, forced U.S. military base construction in Okinawa, and in favor of the Peace Constitution, rule of law, and democratic society.

Michael Hoffman's "A political turning point for Japan’s youth," published at The Japan Times on August 1, 2015, explores the mass student movement for democracy and peace for Japan and Okinawa:

Somebody needed to make the point that Abe’s primary accountability is not to U.S. lawmakers but to the people of Japan. Cynical calculations that the people of Japan wouldn’t bother were not unreasonable...

Years pass and nothing happens — then, suddenly, something does, and nothing is the same. What is the catalyst that turns passivity into activism? It’s like asking why this particular straw and not that one broke the camel’s back...

On July 1, 2014, the Abe Cabinet adopted a resolution sharply reinterpreting the Constitution as permitting what for decades had been regarded as forbidden: a global military role for the “pacifist” nation under the name “collective self-defense.”...On July 15, after a debate whose striking features were the vagueness of the government’s explanations and its hamfisted bullying of opposition lawmakers posing awkward questions, the Lower House voted, brushing aside the doubts of Constitutional scholars and of the public...

That was it. The camel sank to its knees...Sunday Mainichi magazine ventured a bold headline: “It’s begun — 300,000 people surrounding the Diet!”

That figure — 300,000 — is deeply significant. It takes us back to May 1960. The prime minister of the day, soon to be ousted, was Nobusuke Kishi, whose administration forced through the Diet a revised Japan-U.S. security pact in a manner strikingly similar to Abe’s handling of the current security legislation. Three hundred thousand is the prevailing estimate of the size of the enraged crowd that massed in front of the prime minister’s official residence, shouting for Kishi’s head. They got it. He resigned a month later.

The 1960 protests against PM Kishi's ramming through of the US-Japan Security Treaty (ANPO)

drew millions of protestors from all walks of life in multiple protests over months. 

 Demonstrators at the Japanese parliament building, Tokyo, June 18, 1960. 

(Photo © Asahi Shimbun Photoarchives)

Isn't it time to cut military spending to fund human needs in Japan?

(Photo: Shiho Fukada,  The New Yorker: "People wait in line to receive a charity meal in Kamagasaki, Osaka. Once a thriving day-laborer’s town, Kamagasaki today is home to about twenty-five thousand mainly elderly day laborers, with an estimated thirteen hundred who are homeless.")

In January 2013, Tokyo increased military spending for the first time in 11 years: to 4.68 trillion yen ($52 billion).

Meanwhile, 310,500 people in Tohoku remain in temporary housing; Fukushima nuclear meltdown radiation is still uncontrolled; and Japanese people overall are becoming increasingly unemployed, under-employed, and even impoverished.

1 in 6 (more than 20 million) people in Japan live without food security, under the poverty line. In the last 10 years, over 700 Japanese people have starved to death.

According to the Gini Index (“the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country”), in Japan has gone from .25 (1993) to .33 (2008). Japan also has one of the OECD's highest poverty rates (15%), close to Mexico's. It is even higher for the elderly.

At the same time, the consumption tax and government debt has increased.

Isn't it time to cut military spending to fund human needs in Japan?

(Tokyo already has the world’s sixth largest military budget.)

Peace Talk Between Japanese & Iraqi Students, April 17th, Keio University

It has been eight years since the war in Iraq began. These days, we do not even hear the word “Iraq” very much in the news.

The fact is, however, that people in Iraq continue to live with confusion and uncertainty about their futures. Depleted uranium used throughout the war has resulted in continuing cases of leukemia and other cancers, many people whose lives were threatened have become refugees, and life for Iraqis is becoming more and more difficult in general.

Insofar as Japan participated and contributed vast amounts of money to the war, our country in fact has a connection to this situation. At this event, our purpose will be to look at the present lives of Iraqi students—whose world was literally turned upside down by the war—as well as to hear their views toward Japan.

The event will provide an opportunity to hear views not available within the mainstream media, as well as to participate directly in discussions with Iraqi students. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about creating true peace, not through weapons—but through dialogue!

Peace Talk: Iraqi and Japanese Students
Sunday, April 17th
16：00～18：00
Keio University, Mita Campus, South Building Rm. 2B42

Click here to see a map (Japanese only).

☆ Entry: Free!
☆ Interpretation will be provided
☆ No reservations required
☆ Please tell your friends!

Peace Talk Organizing Committee:
peacetalk.0417@gmail.com

For more information, see the blog of humanitarian aid worker Nahoko Takato (Japanese only).

"It's You" - a poem by Misato Hamamura

The following poem was written by Misato Hamamura, a freshman in Tokyo Keizai University's 21st Century Liberal Education Program who is in my English Presentation course. She was inspired to write this piece after visiting Nepal as part of her university’s off-campus international program this summer.

While stark in imagery, her poem gives great hope regarding the power of individuals to reach into their own hearts and create a better world. She presented the poem in class earlier this month, which happened to be her 19th birthday.

It’s You

Humans are ugly.
Money, cheating, lying, greed, absolute power, violence…
Too many weaknesses.
Humans are ugly.

The earth is a factory.
This factory manufactures a great number of guns.
He pointed his gun at me.
She pointed her gun at me.
Someone cried, “Call the police!”
Someone said, “This is like a play with really great dialogue.”
Someone cried, “KILL!”

No one was putting their theories into action.

Humans are beautiful.
Hope, dreams, fathers, mothers, love, peace…
A lot of children.
A lot of smiles.
Humans are beautiful.

The earth is a factory.
This factory manufactures a great number of futures.
Someone said, “This is the birthday of our good fortune.”
Someone said, “Stars are twinkling in the sky.”
Someone cried, “Happiness!”

My hope is humans.
My hope is tomorrow.
My hope is children.

My hope is you.
It’s you.
Following the reading of her poem, Misato facilitated an engaged discussion among class members on the connections between materialism and a loss of soul, and how people in Japan might learn from those in more spiritual-based countries such as Nepal.

Misato (who is pictured below to the far right, at a World March for Peace and Nonviolence event recently held in Tokyo) is presently studying how the issue of poverty serves as the underlying cause of other social problems. She would like to visit the United States, where she hopes to see anti-poverty initiatives in action. She is also studying Korean, and plans to visit Korea in order to promote positive ties between Korean and Japanese youth.

She is one hope-inspiring example of the many young people around the world who are engaged in positive social change, and her poem is a thoughtful call to action for each one of us.- Kimberly Hughes

2009.12.11 (FRIDAY) EARTH GROOVE: “Make Your Peace”

Parties 4 Peace presents EARTH GROOVE this Friday, December 11th, an event that will bring together a diverse collection of artists, musicians and activists to promote environmental awareness and peace through music, art and dance.

Parties 4 Peace describes itself on its website as an event production group that creates parties to promote peace through music and dance. By bringing people together from all nations, cultures and backgrounds, P4P hopes to integrate people from all over the world to create international understanding and peace. P4P is a non-profit production company that only works with DJs who volunteer their time and talent by playing its events for free.

Parties 4 Peace has spearheaded a number of recent projects to raise funds and encourage awareness (especially among the young generation) regarding various initiatives, including one to protect the natural surroundings of the Patagonia region in Chile. Multinational corporations are seeking to begin a hydroelectric project in the area, threatening destruction of its gorgeous glaciers and lakes.

The brochure for the project, which is titled PATAGONICA (a clever amalgam of "Patagonia" with the "electronica" style of dance music), reads as follows:

The PATAGONICA collective was founded in the year 2009 with the Parties for Peace events in Patagonia, in collaboration with the oldest environmental NGO in Chile, CODEFF, which is working to promote Patagonia as a World Heritage Site. The formation of the collective is attributed to the opportunities provided by the International NGO Peace Boat, which travels around the world promoting peace and sustainability.

A video describing the project, which includes footage from the Patagonia region and interviews (in English and Japanese) with event attendees and Parties 4 Peace/PATAGONICA founder Emilie McGlone, is here.

At the "Earth Groove" party this Friday, all proceeds will go to support P4P and several other collaborating organizations: Peace Boat; PangeaSeed, which raises awareness regarding the plight of sharks; and Peace Not War Japan, which supports grassroots peace organizations through events combining live music and peace-themed discussions.

Tokyo's up and coming DJs will be at the decks providing some amazing music for a cause....so come out and feel the positive vibes while making the earth groove!

2009.12.11 (FRIDAY)
EARTH GROOVE
“make your peace”@ FAVELA IN AOYAMA

TIME: 22:00 – 05:00
DOOR: 3000 yen / 2500 with flyer

** Includes one FREE DRINK + food **

DJs:

Sam Fitzgerald (P4P)
Aosawa (Redbox / Freerange Tokyo)
Bosh (Dial / Log / Valys )
Tazzy (Rhythm Odyssey)
Ahimsa (Burning Desire)
DJ Yap (XLNTZ)

ARTISTS :::::::::::::

COLLAGE: Kyle and Lindsey
FASHION: Fair Trade fashion by DAWN, Philippines; Me&Yu fashion
LIVE ART: Aaron Glasson & Crew (R.A.H, Sideroom, Blackbox); Yoh Nagao;
Rah Akaishi (R.A.H Collective);
Wrecks
DANCE: Luna


For more information: Parties 4 Peace
E-mail: parties4peace@gmail.com

John Junkerman on the 2008 Global Article 9 Conference in Tokyo: "The crowds that gathered at Makuhari were diverse, with heavy participation of people in their 20s and 30s..."

The overflow crowd at the Global Article 9 Conference May 4th. (Photo: Stacy Hughes, Peace Boat)

Filmmaker John Junkerman's "The Global Article 9 Conference: Toward the Abolition of War" published at The Asia-Pacific Journal on May 25, 2008:


While much of Japan was enjoying the extended holiday of Golden Week this year, supporters of Article 9, the war-renouncing clause of Japan’s constitution, were hard at work. The first Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War drew 15,000 people to its plenary session and concert outside of Tokyo on May 4th, while 7,000 gathered on May 5th to participate in a day of symposiums and workshops. The crowds far surpassed the expectations of the organizers, who hastily staged an ad hoc rally in a nearby park for several thousand people who were unable to get into the main arena on the first day.

An affiliated conference in Hiroshima on May 5th drew 1,100 participants, and on May 6th another large arena in Osaka was filled with 8,000 people while 2,500 attended a fourth conference in Sendai. Overall, organizers counted more than 30,000 admissions to the series of events.

The gatherings took place at a time when Article 9 faces the most serious threat of being abandoned since the postwar constitution was enacted in 1947. Prior to leaving office abruptly last September, then-Prime Minister Abe Shinzo—who had made revising the constitution the paramount goal of his administration—pushed a bill through the Diet that provides for national referendums on constitutional changes. The law, which takes effect in May 2010, started the clock ticking toward a showdown...

Partly in backlash against Japan’s first-ever dispatch of the SDF to an overseas combat zone, public support for Article 9 has revived from the postwar lows registered earlier in the decade. In a poll released by the liberal Asahi Shimbun on May 3, 66% of the public favored retaining Article 9, while only 23% supported its revision. This represented a 17% increase in support for Article 9 over a similar poll conducted a year ago...


This renewed support for Article 9 was evident in the spillover crowds that jammed the global conference to celebrate and advocate the renunciation of war. At the same time, the government’s continuing efforts to eviscerate and evade the spirit and substance of the clause, the incongruous reality of Japan’s powerful military forces, and the heavy presence of US military bases on the archipelago were never far from the center of discussion.

The conference aimed to reframe the debate over Article 9 by removing it from the narrow confines of domestic Japanese politics and placing it on an international stage. “The war in Iraq has demonstrated that even the strongest, largest army in the world cannot maintain peace in a single city, Baghdad,” conference organizer Yoshioka Tatsuya noted in his opening remarks. “This tells us that peace cannot be achieved through aggression. The 21st century requires a new system of values, and Article 9 can be Japan’s contribution to the world.”

The conference slogan was “The world has begun to choose Article 9,” and numerous speakers pointed to the examples of Costa Rica and Panama, both of which have constitutions that prohibit standing armies, while more than 20 other, mostly smaller countries around the world likewise have no military forces. Bolivia has drafted a war-renunciation clause in its new constitution, though ratification has been placed on hold during that country’s ongoing political crisis. Meanwhile, Ecuador has drafted an amendment to its constitution that would prohibit the basing of foreign troops on its soil.

“Article 9 continues to inspire many people throughout the world,” declared keynote speaker Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her efforts to end the conflict in Northern Ireland. “Many of us are concerned to know that there are those who wish to endanger such policies and abandon Japan’s peace constitution. All peace-loving people must unite to oppose such a backward step.”


Mobilization for the conference was boosted by the steady growth of the Article 9 Association (A9A) movement. These grassroots associations, created throughout the country in response to a 2004 appeal by Nobel laureate Oe Kenzaburo and eight other prominent intellectuals, now number more than 7,000. Many of these individual groups (as well as more long-standing groups, such as the Peace Constitution League [9-joren]) were active participants in the global conference, although the A9A network itself has a strict policy of not endorsing activities outside of the network.

The A9A movement itself was launched in part to free the defense of Article 9 from the narrow confines of the opposition Socialist (now the Social Democratic Party) and Communist parties, which historically were the bastions of the peace constitution but have become increasingly marginalized in recent years. While activists from these parties have been involved in forming some of the A9A groups, the movement has achieved a level of penetration that is unprecedented in the postwar history of Japanese citizens’ organizations. Their advocacy and educational efforts are widely credited with swinging public opinion back to support for Article 9. This is despite the fact that mainstream Japanese media has paid very little attention to the movement, from its very inception.


Strategically, the global conference was an effort to shift the movement from simply defending Article 9 to positioning it as a proactive component of the international disarmament campaign. Japanese activists have drawn inspiration from the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace, the largest international peace conference in history, which set an agenda for the new millennium under the slogan "It is Time to Abolish War."


...The conference also aimed to broaden the base of support for Article 9 among young people, and it was largely successful in this effort. The bedrock of support for Article 9 has traditionally been the generation that experienced the devastation and lack of political liberty during World War II, but with the aging of that generation, the movement to defend Article 9 has struggled to shake the image that it is out of step with the times. But the crowds that gathered at Makuhari were diverse, with heavy participation of people in their 20s and 30s...


Asahi columnist Hayano Toru quoted a pregnant UA on stage: “As one woman, as a mother, as a human being, as a spirit born on this earth, I believe the day will come when we hear the news that all of the wars on this planet have ended.” “Despite the difficulty of their lives,” Hayano commented, “young people, in their own words and ideas, in their own songs, are trying to create a ‘solidarity of kindness.’”

 Asahi editorial board member Kokubo Takashi, in a separate column, commented on the “lithe and natural words and conduct of those who gathered at Makuhari Messe. The constitution’s Article 9 has spread its roots farther and deeper among young people than we political reporters who regularly cover the Diet would ever imagine.”


Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution:

1) 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.

2) In order 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.