Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Protesters gathered outside Japan’s Ministry of Defense on Friday to rally against the purchase of Tomahawk missiles by the Japanese government.

In a complaint made to Defense Minister HAMADA Yasukazu, the protesters denounced the proposed deal with the Americans for the purchase of the missiles which, they say, is in conflict with Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Negotiations to purchase the missiles are in their final phase, according to the US Department of Defense.

In a statement delivered to the defense minister, the protesters in Tokyo said: “We call on Japan to withdraw its ‘decision’ to purchase the Tomahawk and stop negotiations with the United States. The introduction of unconstitutional weapons for attacking enemy bases that tramples on the ‘exclusively defensive’ policy is nothing more than a dictatorial regime’s method that tramples on democracy. The Tomahawk has been widely used as a first-strike weapon.”

The purchase of such weapons, they said, “would be a de facto revision of Article 9 of the Constitution” and would accelerate the arms race in East Asia.