December 2021 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 December
2021. 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 December 25th, 2021

English version No. 253

Grassroots Action Needed Now to Stop Constitutional Revision
The general election on October 31st changed thethe Diet members to "stimulate a broad publicpolitical landscape of the House of Representatives,debate" on whether the current Constitution

meaning a growing acceleration moving towards the"continues to be appropriate for the current world.”

destruction of Article 9, openly paving the way for a

Following the speech, representatives’ questions

constitutional amendment.

included arguments to destroy the spirit of Article 9

In PM Fumio Kishida’s policy speech at theextraordinary Diet session convened on December

Kure and calls for the constitutional reform from theJapan Innovation Party and others.

6th, he announced that he would "realisticallyIn response to these attacks, A9A Governors andexamine all options, including acquiring so called

Mayors group (consisting of former and incumbent‘enemy base attack capability.’” He also called onheads of local governments) held a general meetingon December 12th. Citizens’ groups launched various
actions

to stop the constitutional change.

Also,signature campaigns for the "National Petition
AgainstConstitutional

Revision"

havegot

underway in many parts of the country.
Let's take a step forward to prevent theconstitutional revision by discussing what is atstake now and by making original and creativeefforts in each group of Article 9 Association.

（Translated by Sadao Hiroyama）……………………………………………………………….
Local Gov’t Leaders Adopt Appeal against Revision of Article 9including 5 incumbents, and citizens came fromGovernors and Mayors’ Group of A9A

local groups of the A9A around the country.

The A9A of Governors and Mayors held its 2nd

There were messages from governors of Iwate andGeneral Assembly and Citizens' Gathering inOkinawa prefectures and other local government

Tokyo on December 12th. The event was attendedheads.

by about 60 people, including online attendees.
Attendinggroup

members

numbered28,

The meeting opened with a speech by co-chair

Teiichi Kawai, former mayor of Shiraishi City inMiyagi

Prefecture.

YukoTanaka,

formerpresident of Hosei University and a managerial
member of the Article 9 Association, spoke on"Expectations about the A9A of Municipal
Leaders into an Era of Diversity".

She said, “Wewould like to work with you on constitutional
issues, including Article 9, but also the value ofthe individual, which the current Constitutionemphasizes."
Following
incumbent

theopeningmayorsfromspeeches,threecities

TokyoinMetropolitan Area took stage to speak about theirthoughts of Article 9: The three were ReikoMatsushita, Mayor of Musashino City (co-chair ofan appeal against the amendment of Article 9. Athe group) ; Nobuto Hosaka, Mayor of Setagaya

zoom participant commented, “This general

City; Hideyuki Muraki, Mayor of Akiruno City.

meeting was timely, giving me energy.”

In the discussion and exchange session, there

The meeting was covered by KYODO, whichwere eight speeches from incumbent and former

produced an article titled ‘Revision of Article 9municipal leaders, including Michio Hirai, Mayor

Leads to War: Local Government Leaders Resolveof Maibara City in Shiga Prefecture, Chobin

to Stop it.’ The general assembly of the A9A ofZukeran, Mayor of Nanjo City in Okinawa

Governors and Mayors was covered and streamed

Prefecture, and Toshio Suzuki, former mayor ofin more than 40 news media companies including

Yuzawa City in Akita Prefecture. Akiruno A9A

local

Bureau Chief, Masayoshi Maeda, then appealed

distribution networks like Reuters and ORICON

to the audience to resolutely stop the revision ofNEWS, which presents news, entertainment,

Article 9 that threatens to open the door to themusic, ranking and other hot topics. The event

option of war.

received

The general assembly adopted action plans,such as We will actively work for the success ofthe new 'National Petition against the Revision of
the Constitution'.

After proposing new officers

and co-chairs, the meeting ended with approval ofnewspapers

greatandinternationalattention

focusing

news

oncircumstances related to the Constitution.
The meeting may be viewed on YouTube athttps://youtu.be/3HkKHlIr1W8(Translated by Toshikazu Izumi)

The following are reports from provincial A9A groups.
For 15th anniversary of A9A group’s foundingMoriyama A9A in Aichi Prefecture
At Moriyama Culture Theater on the afternoon

the peace-oriented Constitution. Events began withof November 15th, Moriyama A9A met to celebrate

Chorus Moriyama Peace & Love singing “Kamaishi

the 15th anniversary of its founding. The meeting

Elementary School song”, “Danny Boy” and “Suchwas attended by over 130 people aspiring to defend

Town.” The songs were followed by a hula

performance by the Seko Hula Girls.

minutespeech impressed theaudience.

TheMitsugu Kubota of Aichi Prefectural College

participants wrote comments including, “I learned

gave a lecture entitled “Think about Corona

about former war sites such as the cenotaph inpandemic, War and Peace --- to enhance theNagoya Dome,” and “I feel that I finally understandcampaign to defend the Constitution among young

about some Japanese military war crimes, including

people.” He emphasized studying renunciation ofthe Manchurian Incident.” (written by Tatsuya

war, people’s rights, and duties. His fervent 90-

Mizutani and translated by Katsuyuki Nara)

Solidarity with Myanmar
Kure A9A in Hiroshima Prefecture
On November 7th the Kure A9A held their 16th
Music and Lecture Meeting at View Port Kure Hotel.
84 citizens took part. In the music program, baritone
Yoji Konda and pianist Masaharu Yamashita
performed their piece about an anti-war artist,“Sing for Goro Shikoku” then gave a special requiem
celebrating his younger brother, an atomic bomb
victim.
In the lecture program, Masanori Kotake,secretary-general of a Buddhist chanters’ A9A group,
spoke about the Myanmar people’s campaign fordemocracy. He explained Myanmar’s history andcurrent situation in detail. He then gave theMyanmar Government, currently disrupted by thefollowing remark to the audience.

coup d’état, but implementing what they can do as“Article 9 upholds world peace and the spirit ofnon-armament. What is needed for the Japanese is
not merely standing by and waiting on the[END]citizens.” (from No.969 issue of Hiroshima A9A, andtranslated by Katsuyuki Nara)