Arab News Japan

TOKYO: About 100 pacifists braved the cold winter weather to gather in front of the Japanese Ministry of Defense on Jan. 4, in protest against the expansion of the American base at Henoko in Okinawa.

Major issues were discussed, including funding for military expansion, installing missiles in the Nansei Islands, extension of the US base in Okinawa, flying Osprey aircraft at low altitude in the Tokyo area and building military facilities at the site of the Battle of Okinawa where Japanese and US soldiers died tragically.

Four people, including a woman from Nago in Okinawa prefecture, who mentioned some of these various issues, transmitted their requests and comments to an official from the Ministry of Defense.

The Nago native said the Taiwan issue was an internal Chinese affair and that the Japanese government’s use of perceived urgency of the Taiwan issue to make Japan the world’s third-largest military power would benefit the United States, which is Japan’s main arms supplier.

According to sources like Statista, Japan, with no nuclear weapons, relatively few soldiers and no contemporary combat experience, though well trained and well-funded, is not currently at all close to the top three most powerful military nations by any metric.

Protesters then called for the global spread of pacifism, and a Buddhist monk submitted grievances to the Ministry of Defense officials about the problem of the extension of the Henoko US base and of facilities in Okinawa located on the Battle of Okinawa site where there are remains of Second World War casualties.