Bills expanding Japan’s military limits advance
Parliament’s lower chamber approves the legislation amid protests, scuffles and opposition walkouts.
TOKYO — Controversial legislation that could result in Japanese troops f ighting abroad for the f irst time since World War II passed the lower house of Japan’s parliament Thursday after large public protests outside and scuff les in the normally staid chamber.
The bills, which will go to the upper house, have been championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who contends that his nation — which adopted a U. S.- drafted pacifist constitution after its defeat in World War II — needs to be able to come to the aid of allies, particularly the United States, under the doctrine of “collective selfdefense.”
His push comes as China is expanding its military capabilities and increasingly asserting itself in the South China and East China seas.
But polls show a majority of the public is opposed to the effort, and legal scholars have objected to the legislation as unconstitutional.
On Thursday, Abe’s ruling coalition was left alone to vote on the bills after the main opposition parties walked out in protest.
The day before, about 60,000 opponents of the legislation rallied outside the parliament building after the bills were pushed through a key panel of the lower house on their way to approval by the full body, with participants shouting “Stop it, Abe!” and “We need to protect our kids!”
“This legislation is absolutely necessary to protect the Japanese people and prevent war,” Abe said after the bills were passed.
Abe’s coalition also has a majority in the upper house. But experts said the coalition decided to push the bills through now to take advantage of what’s known as “the 60- day rule.”
Under that rule, if the upper house fails to vote on a bill within 60 days, it can be sent back to the lower house and enacted there if more than two- thirds of attending members agree. The ruling bloc controls more than twothirds of the lower house.
“The opposition could still possibly stop the bills. However, the government can still override a veto with its crushing majority in the lower house,” said Koichi Nakano, a professor of Japanese politics at Sophia University. Still, he said, that probably would be “a very unpopular move — as opposition rises — and therefore a scenario that the government would rather avoid.”
The tense committee vote Wednesday was an indication of how strong feelings are about the legislation. Opposition members shouted as the ruling coalition moved the security bills through the panel in a session marked by pushing and shoving. Some opposition members held placards with slogans such as “We Cannot Forgive the Abe Regime.”
Opposition lawmakers surrounded committee Chairman Yasukazu Hamada of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and tried to halt the voting procedure as Hamada yelled at them.
The vote Thursday by the full lower house was also marked with jeers and yells, but much less ruckus.
The issue of reinterpreting the constitution has attracted attention from many quarters of society.
On Monday, Japanese film director Hayao Miyazaki, who won an Oscar for his animated movie “Spirited Away,” entered the fray, criticizing the bills at a news conference.
Reflecting on Japan’s 15 years of war before its defeat in 1945 and the immense suffering caused, he defended the pacifist constitution as not something imposed on the nation by the United States but as “a ray of light.”
“Abe wants to be a great man who goes down in history for changing the interpretation of the constitution,” said Miyazaki. “That’s idiotic.”