GLOBAL ARTICLE 9 CONFERENCE
Full Program

The official program of the Global Article 9 Conference  to Abolish War is now finalized and available on our website:

For the full program (May 4-6), please see:
www.whynot9.jp/doc/Global_Article_9_
Conference_Program_Final.pdf

For a detailed schedule of all symposiums, panels and self-organized sessions on May 5, see:
http://www.whynot9.jp/doc/may5_timetable_01.pdf

In a landmark ruling, Nagoya's High Appeal Court declared the dispatch of Japan's Air Self-Defense Forces (ASDF) to Iraq unconstitutional.

Though Japan withdrew its ground forces from Iraq in July 2006, ASDF have kept airlifting U.S. forces to and from Iraq.

The mission "constitutes a violation of Clause 1, Article 9 of the Constitution that bans the use of force" and runs counter to the 2003 Law Concerning the Special Measures on Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance in Iraq, Presiding Judge Kunio Aoyama said as he announced the court's ruling.

Providing airlifting and playing "a part in the use of force by other countries" can be considered as if Japan was using force itself, he added.

This decision comes as a group of over a 1,100 plaintiffs filed an appeal against the decision by a lower court to dismiss their suit against the government decision to deploy SDF personnel to Iraq in 2004 under the special measures law. They claim that such deployment (including the continued ASDF air mission) contravenes the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and infringes on their right to live in peace.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura reacted at a press conference, announcing that the government would not accept the ruling and that SDF's operations in Iraq would not be affected by the decision.

However, this is the first time that a court declares SDF's activities unconstitutional - a move considered as "historic" by the many defenders of Japan pacifist constitution. As former Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki, one of the plaintiffs, declared: "This is effectively a complete victory for us!"

To read more about the Court ruling, see articles in the Japan Times, Asahi Shinbun, and the International Herald Tribune.

A public opinion poll conducted by the conservative newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reveals that a majority of people in Japan oppose a revision of the constitution.

According to the survey, the percentage of people backing a revision continues to decrease and has dropped by 3.7 since last year. Meanwhile, the number of those attached to Japan's pacifist Constitution has increased by 4 points, bringing their number to a majority of 43.1 percent.

This is the first time in the 15 years the newspaper carries its opinion poll on the constitution that the number of those opposed to a revision outnumbers those in favor of constitutional amendment.

A clear majority of Japanese support keeping Article 9 and say that Japan should be proud of the pacifist nature of its Constitution.

To read more about this poll, see "Japan enthusiasm for constitution rewrite fades: poll", Agence France Presse (April 8, 2008) and "Balance of support shifts against top law reform", Yomiuri Shimbun (April 8, 2008). 

On April 1st, supporters of the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War distributed special editions of a parody newspaper announcing that Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution had been registered as a world cultural heritage asset by the World Heritage Committee in Paris.

Its articles also announced that discussions in the European Union about adopting a clause similar to Article 9 were gathering steam.

Over 14,000 copies were distributed all over Japan, aiming at making people realize the importance and unique character of Japan's pacifist constitution.

Though there were a few critics among supporters of Article 9 who felt the issue was not a joking matter, reactions were generally very positive and supportive of the Campaign. Some expressed their hopes that as a world cultural heritage, Article 9 would not become an idea of the past but instead spread to the world as something Japan could be proud of. Some were in fact disappointed to learn that the announcement was an hoax.

PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFERENCE

As some of you are on their way to Japan, we would like to remind you to register to reserve tickets to the Conference.

Please download the registration form at
http://www.whynot9.jp/_participate/register.html and
fax it to + 81 3 3363 7562 or email it to us at              
article-9@peaceboat.gr.jp

For those of you who are unable to come, we are trying to set up live broadcasting of the conference on our website so that you can follow the events from a distance.