Japan rejects militarism in the streets

Recent polls indicate that more than 80 percent of the Japanese public condemns the US and Israeli attack on Iran, and the prime minister's own popularity appears to be in drastic decline.

“Ame ni mo makezu, be not defeated by the rain,” wrote the Japanese author and agronomist Kenji Miyazawa in 1931, in a posthumously published poem that later became one of his most famous. It is a hymn to compassion as well as resilience, and the rallying call for an attitude that refuses to bow to external forces.

The many thousands of demonstrators who gathered in more than 30 cities across Japan on Wednesday evening certainly did not surrender to the rain that blanketed nearly the entire archipelago. They came out to protest against the war in Iran, the foreign policies of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her government's push to revise Article 9 of the Constitution. This article, it is worth recalling, has since 1947 prohibited Japan from using war to resolve international disputes; it effectively forbids the country from maintaining a traditional military, allowing only self-defense forces.

Organized by citizen groups, committees and several NGOs, Wednesday's demonstrations are in continuity with protests that have been ongoing in various forms for more than a decade, ever since the Committee for Action to Stop the War and Protect Article 9 began gathering on the 19th of every month in front of the National Diet Building.

In recent months, however, the protests have grown increasingly vocal, even in a country reluctant to hold massive street marches, at least since the end of the highly politicized 1960s and 1970s. The only exception was perhaps the massive wave of protests that erupted in 2015 and 2016 led by SEALDs, a student activist group that also opposed efforts to amend the Constitution's pacifist clause.

Takaichi's landslide victory in the October 2025 elections, the wars upending the fragile global balance, and, not least, the prime minister's somewhat embarrassing meeting with Donald Trump last week have ignited a fire of anger and outrage the likes of which has not been seen in the archipelago for a long time. Recent polls indicate that more than 80 percent of the Japanese public condemns the US and Israeli attack on Iran, and the prime minister's own popularity appears to be in drastic decline.

March has thus been a month in which a segment of the Japanese public decided it was time to say “no” to the policies of a government and a leader many consider inadequate and dangerous. The first sign of this street-level awakening came on March 10, when about 8,000 people gathered for a march toward the National Diet Building. This was followed by a larger rally on Thursday, March 19, when the crowd swelled to 11,000, according to organizers.

These numbers might not seem like much to a Western reader, but for Japan, they are highly unusual and point to something stirring within certain segments of the population. The events on Wednesday evening were a culmination of this month of opposition – not only because of the sheer mass of people gathered in front of the Diet – two massive, colorful columns made up of over 24,000 people, organizers say – but above all because of the nationwide nature of the protests. As noted earlier, these rallies took place simultaneously in 35 cities across the Land of the Rising Sun, stretching from Okinawa to the northern island of Hokkaido.

The style of these demonstrations ranged from silent marches to gatherings where signs and chants against the war and constitutional revision were accompanied by speeches from organizing committee spokespeople and constitutional scholars. While the most radical factions in the massive demonstrations of the 1960s used gebaruto-bo (“violence sticks”) to strike police officers, the symbol of the recent protests, including those on Wednesday, appears to be the far more peaceful colorful glow stick, typically used at concerts and popularized by the South Korean demonstrations of 2024.

Although the class and age demographics of these protests vary widely from place to place, the presence of young people undoubtedly stands out – which explains the origin of the glow sticks. In this regard, the involvement of We Want Our Future – one of the main and most active organizing groups, made up primarily of people in their 20s and 30s – is highly significant.

Among the cities where Wednesday's demonstrations had the greatest impact is Kumamoto, where citizen groups have been regularly raising their voices since the end of last year against the deployment of long-range missiles to the Kengun Self-Defense Forces base. Kumamoto is located on the southern island of Kyushu – the third-largest island in the Japanese archipelago – facing the East China Sea, just a few miles from South Korea and about 600 miles from the coast of China.

On the night of March 8, groups of protesters waited at the base's main gates for the vehicles transporting the missiles – which are theoretically capable of reaching the Chinese coast – wielding banners and protest signs and showing their anger at the move. According to local press reports, many citizens feel betrayed and put in danger by the Defense Ministry's decision. The ministry consulted neither the public nor the city of Kumamoto itself, a move that risks turning the area into a military target in the event of a conflict, especially given its relative proximity to Taiwan.

A final topic that deserves mention is the tools being used to spread the news and how the mainstream media has reacted to this explosion of protests. As was the case for SEALDs activists in 2015, X and Instagram appear to be the two most widely used platforms, alongside YouTube, which is used primarily for live streaming. Television networks and newspapers almost entirely ignored the events of early March, downplaying the events and often relegating them to late-night broadcast slots or tiny newspaper blurbs. Wednesday's massive demonstrations, however, given their scale and scope, were expected to take up far more space and airtime in Thursday’s newspapers and broadcasts.

One of the few – and perhaps the only – foreign news outlets to give significant coverage to the protests in the first half of March was the Chinese government-affiliated China Xinhua News Network (CNC). CNC produced video reports on the March 10 and March 19 demonstrations and posted videos, photos and English-language commentary on its social media channels on Wednesday. This was an unusual level of coverage, which, naturally, was bolstered – in a manner that can be classed as crude – by a desire to discredit Takaichi amid ever-increasing friction between the two governments.

The journey of these movements and citizen groups committed to protecting the pacifist clause of the Constitution obviously will not end with Wednesday night's protests. More marches are planned for April, and a major event is expected on May 3 for Kenpō Kinenbi (Constitution Memorial Day). This national holiday will bring together experts, activists, various citizen associations and likely a few politicians. Never before has this celebration promised to be so significant and deeply felt.

© Il Manifesto Global