Japan

Article by Quique Sánchez, GCOMS officer in Barcelona, on Gensuikyo’s April newsletter. This piece introduced the GDAMS 2021 to Gensuikyo’s followers and activists, asking them to turn their eyes especially on the link between Japanese demand for nuclear abolition and the growing military expenditure of Japan for massive purchase of US fighter jets/weapon systems and building US military bases in Okinawa.
You can read the article here

More info about Peace Boat here
About Global article 9 campaign
And about Internation Campagn to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Peace Boat joined GDAMS one more year by sharing its message and infographic.
“Today, we reflect upon the costs of war. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has shown the world where humanity’s priorities should lie, and that huge military spending is not able to protect lives and people’s security”

“Peace Boat is participating in the Global Campaign on Military Spending #GCOMS, between April 10-May 9. We are sharing the message to #MovetheMoney to #HealthcareNotWarfare through a range of webinars and online events.”

Statement on the occasion of the GDAMS:

“The Global Days of Action on Military Spending, proposed by the International Peace Bureau and now carried out worldwide is a critically important campaign bearing on the lives and rights of 7 billion people and peace of the world. The wealth created by people’s labor is used for destruction and mass killing on the false pretext of peace or “guarantee of security”, of all things, while hundreds of millions of people are suffering from starvation, poverty and poor social welfare. In Japan, too, in breach of the provision of the war-renouncing Constitution, enormous amount of national budget is being spent on buying state of the art weapons from the U.S. or constructing a U.S. military base. This is not for security but for threatening and ruining security. The system of stockpile and deployment of 14,500 nuclear weapons across the world is the worst manifestation of it. We are joining with you in achieving a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world and carrying out a campaign for a total ban and elimination of nuclear weapons. Let us work together to go forward.”

To kick off this campaign, a series of events were held onboard the Peace & Green Boat, a regional voyage throughout East Asia bringing together 500 Japanese and 500 Korean participants for a journey for mutual understanding, reconciliation, and regional collaboration for peace and sustainability. As the ship was docked in Nagasaki on April 14, Peace Boat’s Kawasaki Akira, also a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons  (ICAN), gave a lecture on nuclear disarmament and GCOMS. Following this, hundreds of participants from both Korea and Japan gathered together on the ship’s deck to display their commitment to reducing military spending and instead investing in people’s needs. You can read more here.

Press Conference in Tokyo: A press conference will be organized on May 2 at 2pm in Tokyo. The press conference will cover a number of topics relevant to the Japanese/Northeast Asian contexts and Peace Boat work, with SIPRI data and GDAMS message at the center. Speakers will be Kawasaki Akira (Peace Boat Executive Committee Member, Member of ICAN International Steering Group), Tanaka Terumi（Committee Member of Hidankyo）and Yoshioka Tatsuya (Peace Boat Executive Committee Member). They will report on on the current state of global military spending, on the plans for taking the Nobel Prize certificate and medal around the word, and on the meaning of this GDAMS project in the context of Constitution Day. Venue: Peace Boat Center Tokyo, 7 mins walk from Takadanobaba Station, Nokk Building B1, 3-13-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo-to.

The final GDAMS 2018 statement was translated to Japanese. Read it here!

April 12th to July 25th, 2017
Peace Boat’s 94th Global Voyage for Peace will depart from Yokohama, Japan on April 12 and will return on July 25, 2017, taking a northern route around the globe. Participants will learn about the history of modern Europe and the diverse cultures that constitute it. The voyage will also visit the ports of Porto, Rouen and St. Georges for the first time and return to favourite destinations in the Americas, such as Corinto, Nicaragua and Acajutla, El Salvador.

Find out more…

Event onboard Peace Boat at Sea:

On April 26, a session was held with participants of Peace Boat’s 94th Global Voyage as the ship was at sea, during which SIPRI’s newly released 2016 data on global military spending where presented and discussed, in the context of the level of spending for education and social welfare, as well as current needs for responses to famine, conflict resolution, environment preservation and other global concerns.

To express their surprise and outrage at the current level of global military expenditures, participants held creative activities, including turning paper bombs into what they believed money should be allocated to. They also took selfies expressing their own ideas on “If I had $1.67 trillion, I would move the money to …” A group photo with the GDAMS banner was taken, in solidarity with the events taking place around the world. Find out more…

The delegation of Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) set off to  sail on Peace Boat‘s 87th Global Voyage. They joined GDAMS, calling for the reallocation of resources from the military, creating a world free of nuclear weapons and for lasting peace. More details here.

‘In addition, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) Northeast Asia, for which Peace Boat acts as secretariat, issued a statement expressing concerns about the increase in military spending and ongoing military buildup in the region and making recommendation for the peaceful resolution of the current tensions in the region. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and of the division of the Korean Peninsula. Yet full peace and reconciliation is far from being achieved in Northeast Asia.’

Please read  and sign the online petition about GDAMS: Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict-Northeast Asia reiterates “the important role Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution has played as a foundation for peace and stability in Northeast Asia.”

Peaceboat

Read here the complete report of Peaceboat’s activities including pictures and videos.
Watch the video below for a special video message from Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) Michiko Hattori,  travelling onboard Peace Boat.

Hibakusha message for GDAMS from Peace Boat

View here the video produced of one of the activities, onboard Peace Boat.

Read the Republic of Korea-Japan Joint Statement which was endorsed by 39 organisations and led by Peace Boat and the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

Peace Boat staff, Watanabe Rika and Karen Hallows gave a lecture in the morning of Global Action on Military Spending day as the first step was to raise awareness among participants about the day and what it means.

Participants were invited to show their solidarity with the movement by taking a photograph on top deck.  The participants gathered on the deck under the hot midday sun with a banner that said “Cut Military Spending” in English and Japanese.

Read their report here and see the pictures here.

On April 17, at Okinawa City Hall, Masahide Ota, former Governor of Okinawa, gave a talk “San Francisco Peace Treaty and Japan and US Security Treaty” in the seminar organized by Plaintiffs Groups for Kadena US Airbase Noise Pollution Lawsuit. About 200 people participated in the seminar as part of their action for GDAMS.

In Apri, 2011, approximately 22,000 residents living around the U.S. Kadena Air Base filed a lawsuit, demanding a nighttime flight ban and a combined ¥44.6 billion compensation from the Japanese government, arguing their health has been affected by aircraft noise. The lawsuit is the largest ever in Japan in term of the number of plaintiffs.

The message from Kadena displayed here is “Money is for food, not for Forces, Free from Nukes, Free from Bases”

Futenma Action was held on April 17, organized by Plaintiffs Group for Futenma US Airbase Noise Pollution Lawsuit. They displayed banners in front of Nodake Gate of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called the “most dangerous U.S. base in the world.” During their action, two US helicopters with a thundering noise flew over their heads .

Okinawan people have been calling for theunconditional and immediate closure of MCAS Futenma, However, just recently, the US government has asked the Japanese government to pay 20 billion yen to repair the Futenma air base as the US government intended to use it for the foreseeable future. The banner which read “Futenma Repair Fee 20 Billion for Fukushima” showed Futenma people’s determination to fight the US request and call for a justified world.

Also noticeable were banners reading “No base on Okinawa and Jeju” in three languages, Japanese, Korean, and English. With these banners, Futenma people showed their solidarity with Jeju people.

In the afternoon of April 17, Henoko action was held in front of “Henoko Tent Village,” the site of an 8 year long sit-in protest against the construction of a new US military base, as well as in front of the “No-Base and Peace Gallery” or the fence that divides Henoko and Camp Schwab.

Henoko people displayed the big banner, which they had taken with them to Washington DC this January to deliver “Okinawa’s voices” against the presence of US bases in Okinawa. The other banners read “350 billion yen ($US 430 billion) for aiding disaster relief and rebuilding efforts in Tohoku, not for constructing a new US base in Henoko/Oura bay,” “Use money not for military forces but for our life and nature,” and “Sympathy Budget for Disaster Affected Areas and Protect the Dugong.”

Ms. Suzuyo Takazato of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence and Mr. Hiroshi Ashitomi of Committee against Heliport Construction, gave a spirited peace talk.

The Religious Network for Peace-Making

The Religious Network for Peace-making has been holding monthly assemblies inside the Diet Members’ Building to oppose the dispatch overseas of the Self-Defense Force. The Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace is a member of the network. Led by its director, Fr Kazuyoshi Ohkura, they gladly linked up the network’s 10th year assembly for a GDAMS action.

Around 50 members of the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace – Religious Network for Peace-making network, held a protest and prayer rally against the sending of Self-Defense Force overseas. The protesters called for the reduction in military spending and to channel the budget to the reconstruction of the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was the 100th rally that was held in front of the Prime Minister’s building.

Takae people have been protesting against the construction of six new US helipads in peaceful and creative ways. For their GDAMS action, they showed their solidarity with the people of Jeju Island South Korea, who are also struggling against the construction of a Navy base on their island, known as the “Island of World Peace.” They displayed a banner which Korean peace activists had given to them in support of Okinawan people’s protest against US bases. Takae’s message is “Weapons will fail where only peaceful song and dance can succeed – Takae & Jeju unite!”

Aichi-Okinawa Kaigi

We held a rally at Sakae, the central area in Nagoya.We demanded: No base Okinawa, No military spending!

Okinawa Network for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending
“We urge both Japanese and US governments to stop further militarizing Okinawa: the base construction in Henoko/Oura Bay and the helipad construction in Takae.”

Green Justice