May Day demonstration in Tokyo


Rengo May Day demonstration in Tokyo Posted by Hello

A total of 290,000 people held a May Day rally nationwide on Sunday. One demand is a halt to the government's push for a constitutional revision. Demonstrators also were calling for the elimination of nuclear arms from the global community, organizers said.

Addressing participants at Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, Kanemichi Kumagai, chief of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, critizised Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for undermining people's livelihoods on the basis of his economic policies.

Kanemichi Kumagai also was strongly opposing a revision of the constitution, especially Article 9, that prohibits Japan to go to war.

"What the Japanese government should do is not work on a constitutional revision, but assume a part for eradicating nuclear weapons from the standpoint of the sole atomic-bombed country," he said, according to Kyodo News.

In Seoul, South Korean marchers demanded that their work week be shortened from six days to five. They also chanted anti-globalization messages, including “Down, down WTO!” referring to the World Trade Organization, which promotes globalization and trade.

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