This is the translated version of the Japanese edition (No.257 dated December 1st, 2016). It is published by Katsuyuki Nara of the New English Teachers Association (or Shin-Eiken, http://www.shin-eiken.com/) and Stuart McLelland. The translation is on our own．
Uploaded January 3rd, 2017 English version No.191
SDF units should be withdrawn from PKO in South Sudan.
On November 10th the A9A secretariat issued a statemen t entitled “We oppose the planned SDF units sending to South Sudan.” The secretariat has been collecting messages to support the statement from the public. More than 50 messages have already arrived, some of which are from celebrated persons. You will be able to see those messages on the website soon. The A9A secretariat has also been calling for donations to support the statement and already received more than one million yen at the end of November.
Some of the A9A groups’ latest activities around the country are given below.
Miyagi group
On November 19th the group and other citizens’ groups jointly organized several rallies in the prefecture in protest against the cabinet’s decision to give the new task of “rush-in rescue mission” to the SDF unit based in South Sudan. A rally held in Sendai City attracted about 200 participants.
Nishinomiya group in Hyogo
On November 19th the group held a study meeting to learn about the Constitution focusing on what a political group called Nihon-Kaigi is doing to revise the Constitution. About 140 people attended the meeting. They staged a campaign after the meeting in the city.
Fukuoka group
On November 19th the group held a rally in the city. The secretariat of the group said in the relay talk, “We have to pursue a peaceful form of contribution to the international community without exerting any military action.”
Sapporo group in Hokkaido
On November 19th two A9A groups in Sapporo conducted a signature drive in the city to protect Article 9 from being revised. One member criticized the cabinet’s decision to give a new task of “rush-in rescue mission” to the SDF unit based in South Sudan.
Toyama group
On November 3rd A9A groups in the prefecture jointly staged a campaign in the morning and held a lecture meeting entitled “In the face of the crisis of constitutional revision,” inviting a professor at Sophia University, Nakano Koichi, in the afternoon.
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