At a Feb. 8-9 party convention of the Democratic Party of Japan held in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, party head Banri Kaieda said his party will fiercely confront the Abe administration, which he called a ¡°raging horse,¡± and will push politics aimed at protecting people¡¯s lives and jobs.
Kaieda also criticized the Abe administration for its forceful enactment of the state secrets law, its attempt to change the government¡¯s long-standing constitutional interpretation of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution as prohibiting Japan from exercising the right to collective self-defense, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s visit to Yasukuni Shrine in December.
He said the administration is undermining a system of government based on constitutional principles, including the principle that sovereign power rests with the people, and stressed the need to rectify narrow-minded nationalism in order to achieve ¡°open national interests and a wide range of human security.¡±
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