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Some 23,000 people rallied Monday in Tokyo to protest against the controversial security laws that were enacted by the parliament one year ago, marking Japan's departure from postwar pacifism.
"We will never give up striving for retraction of the security laws" "Let's defend the Constitution together," protesters shouted these words in front of the parliament building Monday afternoon despite the rainy weather, holding banners and flags.
"The new security laws are in violation of the pacifist Constitution...We as lawmakers are duty-bound to work for retraction of the security laws. The opposition parties will make joint efforts to achieve this goal," said Katsuya Okada, former president of Japan's largest opposition Democratic Party.
"The war laws shall be retracted. The bills submitted by the opposition parties demanding retraction of the security laws shall be reviewed by the National Diet," said Mizuho Fukushima, deputy head of the Social Democratic Party.
66-year-old Seiko Itoh have been participating in protests and rallies every month since the security laws were forcibly enacted last September.
"I'm firmly against the new security laws. Japan invaded China and other countries in the past. That's why Japan, after the WWII, vowed never to resort to wars again. But the security laws enable Japan to fight wars in the future. They shall definitely be rescinded," she said.
Itoh was concerned about the current situation in Japan, as the Abe government was expanding Japan's military strength and the newly-appointed Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said recently that Japan would conduct "joint training cruises" with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea.
"It holds some resemblance to Japan's situation before the WWII, when Japan invaded other countries under the name of safeguarding peace," said Itoh.
The same concerns were also shared by Tatuo Miyoshi, a 54-year- old Tokyo citizen who attended the gathering out of a strong sense of crisis.
"I saw on newspaper that the government will give the Self-Defense Forces new tasks in accordance with the security laws. It has been one year since Japan enacted the security laws, and during the year, Japan went further and further away from the road of peace. We shall voice our protests more loudly to strive for retraction of the security laws," he said.
68-year-old Tatu Nagasawa held a banner at the gathering that read "No matter how many years it might take, we won't give up until the security laws are rescinded."
"More and more Japanese people will join us to protest against the security laws until the laws are rescinded, as the pro-war nature of the laws are more and more clear," he said.
A survey earlier this year showed that half of the Japanese people still believe that the security laws violate the Constitution even after the laws have been enacted. The political parties of Japan shall discuss and debate on the issue during the Diet session once again, called an editorial of the newspaper Asahi Shinbum.
Japanese government forcibly enacted the controversial security laws last September which, marking a significant overturn of Japan' s "purely defensive" defense posture, caused widespread concerns and criticism both home and abroad.
（APD）
