September 2022 Issue
English Version of the “Article 9 Association (A9A)” Bulletin and News
This is the translated version of the Japanese edition of the Bulletin and News published in September
2022. It is published by Katsuyuki Nara of the New English Teachers Association (or Shin-Eiken,

http://www.shin-eiken.com/) and Sarah Brock. The translation is on our own．
Uploaded on September 27th,

2022 English version No. 262

Protesting State Funeral: Don’t Justify Abe’s Politics
That Threatened the Constitution
On July 14th the Kishida Cabinet decided to hold a state funeral for the late former Prime MinisterAbe Shinzo. We protest against this funeral as an inappropriate state expression of justifying Abe’spolitics.
Abe’s administration of seven years and eightmonths was consistently hostile to Article 9, andeffectively bulldozed a series of bills throughParliament destructive of its intent. These include
the Law for the Protection of Specific Secrets andlaws formalizing Japan’s capability to exercise theright to collective self-defense. The funeral is being
stagedpartlyto

justifyandeulogize

Abe’s

outrageous politics.
Another reason for the state funeral is to induce the people toexpress sorrow for his death; inducing popular expression ofgriefusinggovernment

means,

insteadof

facilitating

spontaneous expression of grief and mourning by free citizens,is against ideas of the Constitution. We of the A9A voice ourprotest against the funeral and all members are encouraged tocontinue taking action against PM Kishida’s schemes to initiate
constitutional amendments in the Diet.

ColumnInternational Union against Communism urges Constitutional Revision Draft
A political action group of the Internationalyears. The sub-group, Two Sides of One Coin,

Union

been

recently sided with pro-revisionists in the rulingadvocating Constitutional revision for over 50

Liberal Democratic Party. The group’s journal

AgainstCommunism

hasWorldThought

featuredreasonsfor

This is the same assertion that the late Abe

Constitutional change in its May 2020 edition.

Shinzo insisted on making for many years in theArticles asserted the need to stipulate Self-past.

Defense Forces in Article 9 of the Constitution.
***

Provincial A9A Groups’ Activities
Protest State Funeral!
Ebina A9A group in Kanagawa Prefecture
August 15, the date of Japan’s surrender inWorld War II, the Ebina A9A did their 70 thstreet rally near Ebina station under the banner,
Utilize the Constitution in Our Life. 15
members took part in the summer heat withtemperatures reaching 34 ° Celsius. They
showed placards to passersby, reading “Why theState

Funeral

Means

Now?”

“ApplyConstitution to our Daily Life” and others. They
also made speeches over loudspeakers on thetrue value of the Constitution. (Translated by

Katsuyuki Nara）

Children Free to Express Themselves
Kosei Hato-poppo Daycare Center A9A Group, Sapporo City, Hokkaido
On August 5, Kosei Hato-poppo Daycare Centerheld its annual session on reading picture
storybooks on peace to children (Hato-poppo is ababy-talk word meaning dove, a symbol of peace).
27 children from two classes gathered together,and before starting the session, Daycare Director
Kenji Taguchi asked them, “What is peace?” Thechildren raised their hands cheerfully all at once,
shouting, “I know it,” and gave answers such as,“Never fight,” or “No bombs.” Then Taguchi
asked, “What is war?” Children answered one
after another: “My friends and everyone will die.”“Houses burn down.”
During the session, Taguchi read two books about
peace for young audiences: What is Peace? by

Keiko Hamada and We’ll never Fight War by
Shuntaro Tanigawa. Taguchi read interactively,and the children eagerly participated in the story,echoing and responding cheerfully.
After the reading session, Taguchi had aconversation with parents and talked about what

is the most important thing he deals with when

express themselves freely and spontaneously.”facing children. “What I do is all about(Translated by Toshikazu Izumi)

interacting with children in the hope that they canThe 16th Anniversary Gathering
Wakayama A9A Disabilities GroupOn July 24, the Wakayama A9A Disabilities

blind. He spoke from his long experience teaching

Groupmusicat Kyoto School for the Blind. He talked clearly

performance, and lecture at Wakayama Fureai

and informatively about how the disabled wereCenter to commemorate the group’s 16th

involved in World War II. The audience listenedanniversary, with 25 people attending.

eagerly to the lecture that had been postponed

heldageneral

meeting,

After the general meeting, the New Japan
Women's Association local group played a folk

due to the pandemic and now at last was being
realized.

instrument from Aomori from the 1980s, theKishi quoted a composition written by a first

Scoop shamisen. The player strikes the metal

grader at Kyoto School for the Blind in 1937: “Tosnow shovel (called a scoop when used musically)

the soldiers stationed in China. Please kill aswith a bottle opener using ateburi striking

many Chinese as possible so that we can be proudtechnique of the Tsugaru shamisen to makeof you.” The audience was shocked to understandmusical tones.

The NJWA group played threethat education under the Japanese militarysongs, including Kawachi Otoko-bushi, a folk song

regime instilled such unethical thoughts even intofrom Osaka. The music resonated with thefirst graders.

1audience, who enjoyed listening to the exciting
songs.

Kishi went on to expose how the military regime
discriminatedagainstthehandicappedasThe lecture, “The Disabled and War”, was given

worthless and useless, children in particular.

by Hiromi Kishi, an expert on education for theWhen it came to evacuating school children fromtargeted areas, evacuation of children withdisabilities was given low priority. The reason wasthat disabled children were assessed by themilitary regime as being unable to serve the war
effort as adults.
Group secretariat Makoto Nojiri wrote in thegroup’s bulletin: “We must continue our activities
and create a world where everyone's life shinesbrightly, and the welfare budget for the disabled

The Scoop Shamisen (pronounced scop), asteel drums. Players make tuneful sounds whilesnow shovel played with a bottle opener, is a

performing with flair so that it looks like they are

struck idiophone in the Hornbostel-Sachs

playing a stringed shamisen.

1

instrument classification system: 111.24, near

will not be cut. We have to spread the word

contribute to society. This is what I strongly felt

around the world that handicapped people

this day,” (Translated by Sadao Hiroyama)[END]