Appeal of the “Kyujo-no-Kai (Article 9 Association) Toyonaka Ichibanboshi”

Sixty years has passed since the last war. During these 60 years, Japan has never waged war, that is, has never killed or injured a man in the name of the nation. It is because our Peace Constitution (Article 9) forbids the nation to do so.

On the other hand, Japan has enormous Self Defence Forces (SDF), whose expenditure is among the five largest in the world, and under the ‘PKO Cooperation Law’, the SDF has been dispatched to various foreign countries in order to make “international contributions”. Even interceptor missiles are under development. The SDF now seems to be able to carry out any military action other than starting a war and to obtain nuclear weapons.

What is the intention of the revision of our Peace Constitution?
To be a “normal” war-waging country?    
To encourage people to get hurt or killed in the name of ‘international contributions”?
To find a way to revive the conscription system? 
Or finally, nuclearization?

We think our Peace Constitution, Article 9, should not be revised at this particular time. It means something now.

War, poverty, violation of human rights, environmental destruction ― these interrelated problems signal the catastrophe of the planet earth. Without peace, human beings cannot exist. Shall the 21^st Century be the final century for human beings or mark a turning point for new peaceful centuries?  We are facing the ultimate choice now. 
Wouldn’t it be better for Japan to find a way to play a leading role in the international society with its Peace Constitution?

Yet today, the Peace Constitution faces a great challenge in the Diet. It will be buried if citizens fail to make resistance. Now, therefore, we decided to organize the “Kyujo-no-kai Toyonaka Ichibanboshi” here in Toyonaka.

February 4, 2005