Consumers Union of Japan – Page 44 – Sound and Healthy Future for Our Children

Protest Action Against Arms Trade

CUJ’s Koa Tasaka speaks at the anti-arms demonstration on October 1, 2015

Protest Action against Japan’s new Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) under the Department of Defense on October 1, 2015
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration has done everything in his power to change Japan’s peace constitution, defying the peaceful wishes of a majority of the people. His government abolished the nation’s Three Principles banning exports of weapons in April, 2014. The plan is to make Japan a major weapons producer and arms exporter. Abe has even gone so far as to order the purchase of 17 Ospreys from Bell Helicopter in the United States for $3 billion, wasting an extravagant amount of tax revenue.
“Making a profit selling weapons is a most contemptible act, but the Abe government is now attempting to engage in this vile behavior as a state enterprise,” comments Koa Tasaka, co-chairman of Consumers Union of Japan. It is estimated that a third of Japan’s entire defense budget is being allocated for the new agency to handle the sales and purchases of weapons under the Department of Defense.
It rained on October 1, 2015, the day the new Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) under Japan’s Department of Defense was established in central Tokyo. A protest demonstration was held by peace organizations and NGOs outside the gates. Koa Tasaka further notes: ”I would like to step up the activities to bring down Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration in the next election as he is persevering in his immoral support for the weapons industry.”
Koa Tasaka explains: “Production and exports of arms should be stopped. Exporting weapons and weapon systems evokes war and prolongs suffering. More and more people have become aware of the importance of peace, especially considering the horrible impact war has on children around the world. In spite of this, Shinzo Abe’s government and Japan’s Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) are behind the immoral promotion of this, giving priority to money over the lives of human beings.”

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By fridfrid | 13/10/2015 | Civil Rights, Trade |

Consumers Union of Japan Strongly Opposes the TPP Agreement

Consumers Union of Japan strongly opposes the TPP agreement as a whole, which we regard as a threat to our rights, and calls for a movement to prevent Japan from participating in the TPP

October 5, 2015
Consumers Union of Japan

On October 5, 2015, the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations were concluded at a ministerial round in the US city of Atlanta. Thus the TPP has reached a new stage. These complex negotiations still have contradictions and need further legal adjustments before countries can ratify the agreement and enact it into national legislation. The debates and deliberations will now also begin in earnest in the parliaments of each member country.

“From the standpoint of consumers and producers, it is clear that Japan’s automobile industry and auto part makers won a big victory over other interests, especially the nation’s farmers and agricultural lobby. The stark-naked truth is that farmers will face a TPP agreement that completely fails to live up to the many promises made to them. Instead, the interests of large corporation and big capital took top priority, while ordinary people and their living conditions are under threat,” says Ono Kazuoki, co-chair of Consumers Union of Japan.

Back in 2012, when the Liberal Democratic Party was in opposition, its position was against TPP. LDP made promises to oppose participation in the negotiations as long as they were premised on tariff abolition without sanctuary, especially for agriculture. Other conditions included the rejection of numerical targets for cars and the investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause, as well as protection of food safety standards and Japan’s universal healthcare system. LDP even printed election posters that the party “does not lie” and that they opposed TPP, which they put up all over Japan. CUJ’s Ono Kazuaki notes: “For example, in April, 2013, both Houses of Japan’s parliament agreed that tariffs on rice, pork and beef, wheat, barley and sugarcane should not be affected by TPP. These promises and parliamentary resolutions have now largely been broken by the outcomes of the TPP negotiations.”

There is strong opposition and a movement of people against TPP not only in Japan but in many countries, including the US, Australia and New Zealand. This is truly a growing international movement. More and more people realize that their right to safe food is being disregarded, while their access to medicines will be more restricted by higher costs and patent rules. For family farmers and small-scale agriculture, the onslaught of imported goods will make their survival impossible. “Consumers Union of Japan will now step up its campaign against TPP both domestically and internationally. We will cooperate with the civic movement and protest against the TPP from the point of view of consumers and citizens,” says Ono Kazuoki.

We strongly urge the Japanese government to exit the TPP agreement unless the following conditions are met: admit that it violates the pledges made to the Japanese people, and start new negotiations between the participating countries with a clean slate.

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Contact:
Consumers Union of Japan
Address: Nishi Waseda 1-9-19-207 Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Japan (169-0051)
E-mail: office.w@nishoren.org
Fax: +81-(0)3-5155-4767

By fridfrid | 07/10/2015 | Civil Rights, TPP |

Say No To “My Number”

Put the implementation of the “My Number” system on hold!

From October 2015, the people living in Japan will get a notice in the post from the government, including foreigners. It will contain an ID number consisting of 12 digits.

All Japanese citizens and foreigners who reside in Japan will be included in the new system.

The government claims that the system is necessary “to manage information efficiently in the fields of social security, tax and disaster management.” But it will also cover many other issues, including giving the government access to data about bank accounts and even medical information.

There is also a controversial proposal to link the ID number to applications for reduced rates when the consumption tax will be increased from 8% to 10%. We can certainly imagine how the My Number system will continue to cause increased anxiety about privacy and personal integrity.

Consumers Union of Japan opposes the My Number system that allows the state to unify and centralize all information about citizens. We demand that the implementation of the system, which was decided on September 3, 2015, should be put on hold.

We ask that people should have the right to opt-out of the system and that compensation issues must be clarified. Individuals should not be forced to prove damage in the legal sense in cases of data leaks of ID number related information.

CUJ’s letter to protest the My Number System to Prime Minister Abe (J)

More details in The Japan Times: Ready or not, government will soon have your My Number (E)

Japanese Government explains the new Social Security and Tax Number System (E)

By fridfrid | 21/09/2015 | Civil Rights |

120,000 People Demonstrated Against War Bills, Or “Security Bills”?!

120,000 People Demonstrated Against War Bills

By Sugiura Yoko, Consumers Union of Japan

I participated in the large demonstration outside Japan’s parliament on August 30, 2015, against the proposed war bills, demanding that the Abe government withdraw the bills. Our goal was that over 100,000 people would participate, but the organizers estimated that over 120,000 people showed up. It was the first time we brought the blue flag of our new group, Consumers and Citizens for Article 9. Together with Consumers Union of Japan’s green flag, we shouted our slogan, “We oppose the war bills!”

“It’s my first time to participate in a demonstration,” said a friend as we walked together in the light drizzle.

The demonstration in central Tokyo was one of more than 300 all over the country during the weekend protesting Abe’s move to loosen the post-war, pacifist constitution’s constraints on the military.

We oppose the legislation that would allow Japan’s military to fight overseas, and want to save Article 9 of the Constitution, the important peace clause that renounces war.

NHK’s main news broadcast that evening at 19:00 didn’t have our demonstration as the top news, but put it at third place. Anyway, my heart was beating hard as I watched the TV coverage of that important day’s event. During the demonstration I was also able to hand out information about our meeting on September 14 with guest speaker Ms. Uehara Hiroko, former mayor of Kunitachi City, a long-time peace activist from the consumer movement.

Name: “Thinking about the War Bills from the Viewpoint of Our Livelihood”

Place: Iidabashi Central Plaza, 16 Fl., Tokyo

Date: September 14, 2015

Time: 14:00-16:00

Entrance: 500 Yen

(This is a translation based on a Facebook post over at our new Japanese Facebook page, do have a look and please Like & Follow!)

By fridfrid | 03/09/2015 | Civil Rights |

Will Japan and the U.S. Align on TPP Provisions That Harm Japanese Creators?

Guest post over at Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about copyright issues and the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations – did Japan move closer to the US positions during the recent Maui talks in July, 2015? Martin J. Frid, with Jeremy Malcolm, formerly at Consumers International:

Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will see a wide range of changes sweeping the economy and the community, in areas as diverse as food safety/food security, country of origin labeling rules, and copyright. As a staff member of Consumers Union of Japan, I am concerned about all of these issues—but I’m writing here about the copyright changes, which unlike in many other TPP countries have sparked national attention.

Copyright has been a sticking point for Japan in its trading relationship with the United States dating all the way back to 1945, when Japan was required to award the victors of the Second World War with 10 years of additional copyright protection. The U.S., Australia, and New Zealand are still benefiting from that even now, and Japan has asked for this to be rolled back in the TPP.

But the U.S. negotiators are demanding the opposite: like five other TPP countries, Japan is being asked to extend its copyright term by another 20 years, from life of the author plus 50 years as the Berne Convention requires, to life plus 70 years, and even longer for corporate-owned works. This is a proposal that Japan has considered repeatedly and rejected on the grounds that it would not benefit Japanese creators. Yet the U.S. will not take no for an answer.

In addition, Japan is being asked to adopt stricter copyright enforcement rules, including sky-high statutory damages awards, and the ability for police to take criminal action against alleged copyright infringers, even if the copyright owner does not file a complaint.

Japanese Creative Sector Speaks Out

The Japan Playwrights Association, the Japan Theatrical Producers Association, and the Japan Theatre Arts Association jointly issued an appeal, opposing the Japanese government’s participation in the TPP negotiations. Their appeal expresses strong concern that controversial issues on intellectual property rights are negotiated without any prior public debate in Japan.

Read the rest at EFF

By fridfrid | 13/08/2015 | Civil Rights, TPP |