While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues to push for a more active military, the number of people opposed to the idea has been growing. To publicly protest Abe’s plan of revising Japan’s pacifist Constitution, some 3,000 people headed to central Tokyo on Tuesday to rally against it.
Abe has repeatedly called for the reinterpretation of its post-war pacifist Constitution to allow its military to exercise its right to collective self-defense, and in turn support allies who come under attack. However, a provision in the Article 9 of the Constitution, where Japan forever abandons the use of force in settling international disputes, prevents the nation from doing so.