Japan's Young People Ready For A Fight

As the Japan tourism industry continues to suffer from the ill-advised remarks by the right-wing Prime Minister on the Taiwan issue, an issue avoided publicly by all previous heads of government, the country's right wing militarists are delighted at the possibility that the Constitution might be changed. Written, it must be remembered, by the Americans and now part of Trump's ever-changing international interference as he wants this Constitution changed, Clause 9 states -

“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”

But many Japanese are totally against such change, especially the nation's young people. Public spaces across Japan are being filled with demonstrations by peope born more than half a century after the end of the war in the Pacific. 22-year old student Gohta Hashimoto is now participating in the anti-change demonstrations which have been getting bigger and bigger.

"Until now, I had never thought of the Constitution as something young people needed to fight for,"

he said. Another student, Yuki Hioki, said at a rally in Tokyo -  

“The Constitution enables us to stay out of America’s wars, including in this region . . . The thought that might change makes me really angry”

With the country's economy suffering from the large drop in Chinese tourism and the ¥ sinking even further, the Prime Minister seemingly knows that she still has Japan's ageing militarists on her side. But if she now loses the confidence of the nation's young people, she will be in for a fight.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/22/japan-youth-pacifist-constitution-trump-iran