TOKYO: Demonstrators called for Japan to end military aid to Ukraine and protested against what it calls Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s ‘militaristic policies’ in a demonstration near the American Embassy in Tokyo on Saturday.
Eight hundred students from the Zengakuren student league, union members and anti-US base demonstrators criticized the political moves of the Prime Minister.
The demonstrators called for an end to military aid to Ukraine and the supply of cluster munitions by the US government. They also denounced “anti-Chinese propaganda” from the Kishida administration following the discharge of contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant and plans to help the US defend Taiwan in the event of Chinese military action.
TOMITA Shoko, a young trade unionist and mother of three, said she was participating in the demonstration because she was against the war in Ukraine and against cluster bombs.
Another protester, UCHIDA Shiori, told Arab News Japan that he sees Prime Minister Kishida’s diplomatic efforts supporting the policy of rapid militarization. “He recently met with the US and Korean presidents to build strong military ties between the three countries to go up against China and North Korea. The right thing for us workers is to stop the war in Ukraine and the upcoming war against China, not to prolong or promote it.”