Wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt and clutching a microphone, Aki Okuda stands before a crowd, the pyramid-shaped roof of the Diet building lit up against the night sky behind him.
¡°No War,¡± ¡°Protect the Constitution,¡± ¡°Abe ¡ª Quit!,¡± he chants in a hip-hop rhythm, echoed by the crowd.
Okuda, 23, is a founding member of a group of students that has become a fresh face of protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s push to enact a more robust defense policy ¡ª steps critics say violate the pacifist Constitution and could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led wars.
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