Students on hunger strike against bills
Print Edition
A GROUP of Tokyo university students have staged a rare hunger strike in front of Japan’s parliament as they protest against security bills that would drag the country into foreign wars.
The move highlights growing opposition to legislation backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, just days after Japan’s national bar association joined the effort to prevent the constitutionally pacifist nation from enacting changes that could see Japanese troops engage in combat for the first time since the end of World War II.
Four male students began their hunger strike on Thursday afternoon in front of the National Diet building, saying a “direct and tough approach” was required to block the bills, which are being debated in parliament.
The group, who spent their first night on the street in the Nagatacho political district, said they would hold off food until they reached their “physical limit.” “(A hunger strike) is an act of risking one’s life ... but I thought I should express my opposition to these bills more directly,” said Shotaro Kimoto, 19, a student at Waseda University. “If parliamentary debate stops, then we have achieved our goal.”
Under the proposed new rules, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces would have the option of going into battle to protect allies, even if there was no direct threat to Japan or its people.
Abe and his supporters want the bills to clear parliament during the current session which ends late next month.
But opponents say they will drag Japan into American wars, and the legislation is unpopular among the general public. A constitution imposed by a post-war US occupation force barred Japan’s military from combat, with the exception of self-defense.
The bills cleared the powerful lower house last month.
Two years ago, an anti-nuclear group went on a hunger strike for a week over government efforts to end a protest calling for the end of atomic power after the Fukushima accident.
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