A vibrant antiwar movement is blooming in Japan right now. Trade unions, civic groups, and an overwhelming number of young people are galvanizing the country around Article 9 of the Japanese constitution — the article that has kept Japan out of war for the last seventy years.

Each weekend since March, between five and ten thousand people have gathered outside of the Diet (Japan’s parliament) in Tokyo to protest Shinzō Abe, Japan’s prime minister and the hawkish members of his Liberal Democratic Party who are trying to repeal Article 9. Abe, the first world leader to congratulate Trump in person after the November election, is a fierce defender of US military bases inside of Japan and is making significant legislative gains towards ridding Japan of the article, which ensures Japan only takes up arms against another country when it is being directly attacked.

Antiwar mobilizations have sprung up in response. In March, thirty thousand people protested Abe on the streets outside the parliament, as thirty-five cities across Japan held similar demonstrations, demanding that the article stay.