March 2023 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 March 2023.
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 March 20th, 2023

English version No. 267

Grassroots Opposition to Massive Military Buildup, Constitutional Amendment
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s 90th Party

specifically constitutional discussions.

Convention on February 26 deemphasized massivemilitary buildup and major tax hike agendas,

As PM Fumio Kishida appeals for " Cooperation of

attempting to avoid public criticism ahead of local

opposition parties to discuss the compilation of aelections in April. But the LDP is accelerating thedraft amended constitution in the Diet”, let us

campaign to achieve constitutional reform soonest,

oppose any constitutional changes to build a nation

planning local community workshops and dialogue

at war through local, grassroots movements!

meetings to push for an emergency clause allowing(Translated by Katsuyuki Nara)

LDP's Constitutional Revision Campaign Policy
The campaign plank, designed to hide its fangs in the run-up to the election, is titled"Defend Japan, Shape the Future.” It rests on three pillars:(1) Party activities to win elections(2) Prioritize measures to realize a strong economy as an affluent stronghold(3) Accelerate the campaign to realize an early revision of the Constitution.
To achieve the third pillar, the LDP plans to expand regional training sessions and dialogue
meetings, already held 700 times in the last fiscal year, and hopes to realize explicit
inclusion of the Self-Defense Forces in Article 9 by creating an emergency clause.

Provincial A9A group activities.
Our “Silent”Activities in 2022
Tsuyama A9A, Okayama Prefecture
Tsuyama A9A was founded in November 2005 with

Our silent protest against Russia's aggression in

22 local citizens holding monthly secretariat

Ukraine was an online screening of the 1970 Italian

meetings and publishing a bimonthly newsletter. In

classic Sunflowers. The film stars Sophia Loren and2022 the Coronavirus pandemic prevented us fromMarcello Mastroianni depicting a young couple

holding our general meeting. Instead we decided towhose destiny is to become separated and thenhold ‘silent protest’ style events face to face andhave their relationship completely split apart byonline.

war. It is famous for being the first Western film tobe shot within the Soviet Union.
Filming took place in what is now Ukraine andRussia. The last scene shows the seemingly endlessfields of sunflowers, 1 Ukraine’s national flower,
planted after WWII in memory of the soldiers whodied in the war. Participants searched on theinternet to see fields of sunflowers in Ukraine.
That is just one of the three silent protest actions
against constitutional reform we have held since
pro-constitutional

reformcandidates

gainedtwo-thirds of the seats in the House of Councilors inJuly. We made a special 2000-issue newsletter
distributed throughout the city. We renewed five of
our signboards which had become old and worn.
We

anticipate

restarting

more

interactive

pre-coronavirus pandemic activities. We involved
the elderly at singing-together café events, inviting
participants from nearby daycare facilities. We
involved young people turning age 20. We set up
tables outside coming-of-age ceremony venues witha poster, and asked new young adults exiting thevenue to give us their opinion about constitutional
reform. They enjoyed putting stickers into columns"oppose,""arenotsure,"or"agree"about

constitutional issues. It is going to be great to dothese activities again this coming year.

(Translated by Sadao Hiroyama)

1

The fields of sunflowers were planted postwar for

the Italian soldiers who died on the Russian Front
during WWII, one flower for every soldier.

Do you hear the footsteps of war?
Nasunogahara A9A group of Nasushiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture
Since we started 18 years ago in Nasu, Tochigi

taking action to prevent the phrase from becoming

Prefecture, our quarterly newsletter has grown to aa reality but are concerned for the public’s lack of acirculation of 800, with readers in Tochigi, Tokyo,

sense of crisis about potential approaching conflict.

and Okinawa. We organize gatherings twice a

We are doing our best to encourage people aroundmonth, Kenpo-Café (Constitution Café), where

the country to defend the pacifism of Article 9 of theparticipants freely discuss the Constitution.

Constitution.

At the Kenpo Cafes in January, participants talked(Translated by Toshikazu Izumi)

about the three new security documents approvedby the Cabinet in December to bolster the military
budget and the related Diet debate on defense-only
policies. The claim is that that the documents donotchangethegovernment’s

exclusively

defense-oriented posture and Japan will never be amilitary powerhouse. However PM Fumio Kishida’s
cabinetcontinues

Abe cabinet

techniquesofobfuscation and half-truths to pave the way for thecountry to make war overseas along with U.S.
forces.
In the café discussions a participant suggested,“Can all local A9A groups across the country
express our protest against the government’s movein chorus?” We told participants that it was a greatidea. We informed the café participants that
Nasunogahara A9A is affiliated with the Citizen’s
Network for Peace and the Constitution of northern
Tochigi,andregularly

participates

instreetcampaigns staged by the CNPC. We are considering
creating a group flag and panels explaining the A9A
at those street actions to show our determination.
Following on last year’s successful lecture program
featuring journalist Chihiro Ito, this year are
inviting freelance journalist Yujin Fuse to give alecture in March. He is well-known for his coverageof citizens’ peace movement and Self-Defense
Forces activity issues.
At the end of last year, the phrase “a new prewarperiod2” quickly spread on the internet. We plan

Note: Asahi Shimbun and other news sources
reported that Japanese entertainer Tamori recently
caused a stir by coining the expression atarashii
2senzen which translates as “a new prewarperiod.”)

[END]