Upper house panel approves contentious defense bills amid chaos TOKYO —

[yuiyoshida]

TOKYO —

Japan took a step on Thursday toward enacting legislation for a policy shift that would allow troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two, part of the prime minister’s agenda to loosen the limits of a pacifist constitution.

The security policy shift, which Abe says is vital to meet challenges such as a rising China, has sparked protests and sharply eroded his popular support.

Opponents argue it violates the constitution and fear it could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led conflicts.

Ruling Liberal Democratic Party member Masahisa Sato told NHK public TV that an upper house panel had approved the bills after a chaotic session, carried live on television, in which opposition lawmakers tried physically to block the vote, saying the vote was unacceptable.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/upper-house-panel-approves-contentious-defense-bills-amid-chaos

EDITORIAL: Passage of security legislation will only start long, grueling constitutional debate

The political battle over government-drafted national security legislation between the ruling and opposition camps has reached its final phase amid mounting public protests.

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is determined to ram the legislation through the Diet this week.

Battle lines formed in July last year after the Abe Cabinet opened the door to Japan’s exercise of the right to collective self-defense by changing the government's longstanding interpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. Successive administrations had concluded Japan cannot exercise that right unless the Constitution is amended.

Since then, many experts, including constitutional scholars and former chiefs of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, have repeatedly taken issue with the legitimacy of the dubious step taken by the Abe administration.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201509170050

Opposition parties’ delaying tactics throw Diet into chaos
In a chaotic session rife with yelling and wrestling, the ruling bloc bulldozed two disputed security bills through a special committee in the Upper House on Thursday, taking the penultimate step toward enacting legislation that will subvert Japan’s pacifist approach to world affairs.

The bills, designed to expand the types of overseas missions that can legally be undertaken by the Self-Defense Forces without amending the Constitution, were expected to be enacted by a full session of the House of Councilors later in the evening or early Friday.

When Yoshitada Konoike, chairman of the special committee, tried to put the bills up for a vote at around 4:40 p.m., dozens of lawmakers from the opposition camp mobbed him in an attempt to stop the procedure. Lawmakers from the ruling bloc then rushed to protect him, turning the session into a mob scene.

Eventually, the ruling bloc members stood up to vote on the bills, and Konoike declared them passed.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/17/national/politics-diplomacy/opposition-parties-delaying-tactics-throw-diet-chaos/#.VfsJQH0VjMp

Opposition parties submit censure motion against defense minister
Opposition parties submitted a censure motion against Defense Minister Gen Nakatani to the House of Councillors on the night of Sept. 17.

Five opposition parties including the Democratic Party of Japan also agreed on the night of Sept. 17 to table a non-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The unanimous decision was made at a meeting of Diet affairs committee chairpersons from all five of the parties. The move comes after controversial security legislation was passed by a special House of Councillors committee earlier in the day, setting the stage for a final vote in an upper house plenary session.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150917p2a00m0na035000c.html

Youth galvanize elders in security bill fight: a report from inside a Sept. 14 protest
It's 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, and several police officers with plastic megaphones are shouting directions at the flood of people exiting Tokyo Metro's Nagatacho Station. Men and women, mostly middle-aged and older, linger on the stairs leading aboveground, waiting for their companions to arrive. Some are holding flags bearing the names of civic groups and labor unions, and others are wearing vests with "Scrap the war bills" written in magic marker.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20150917p2a00m0na012000c.html

Protests in front of the Diet building against controversial security bills [RAW VIDEO]

Crowds of people in front of the Diet building chant "protect the Constitution" and other slogans to protest Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to enact controversial security bills that will see Japan's Self-Defense Forces given an expanded international role.