This is a very serious figure. Younger generations in Japan are suffering from terrible burdens. In education, excessive competition and micromanagement deeply harm young people. They are growing up in an environment where they have very little experience of creating something on their own. Their tuition fees are extremely high compared to other countries. They are forced to enter the workforce burdened with large student debt from “scholarship” loans.

Once there, they find that one out of every two people is precariously employed as a nonregular worker. People are increasingly unable to have hope for the future, or envision their lives tomorrow. Under these circumstances, bullying, truancy, violence against teachers, and suicide are on the rise. The problem is that children are treated as human resources to utilize rather than as subjects with rights. They are scattered and alienated, and this situation is often justified using deeply ingrained ideas of “personal responsibility.”

This was really a happy experience. It proves that if you raise your voice, you can change politics and society. Middle school and high school students, who aren’t even able to vote yet, took action and paved the way to eliminating these unreasonable school rules. Hopefully this trend spreads not only in Tokyo but throughout the whole of Japan.

It’s worth noting that schoolteachers themselves are also subject to extreme control and outrageous treatment. Many teachers expressed both their opposition to the cruel rules for schoolchildren and their happiness that we were able to win the changes we did. Hopefully this solidarity can lead to the creation of more collaborative schools.

But there are still many challenges to overcome if we are to stop the ongoing oppression of children and the violation of their rights. If the status quo is irrational, should we just adapt to it, or take action to change the situation? These young people have raised their voices, and we must stand in solidarity to amplify their voices and bring about change.

A drastic wage increase is necessary to protect people’s livelihoods from soaring prices. Japanese companies are sitting on huge and increasing capital reserves, but real wages have been declining for sixteen consecutive months. When workers’ needs and demands are thwarted, striking is essential to improve our lives and working conditions. So, an increasing number of labor unions in Japan are going on strike, and these strikes will continue to spread. The Japanese constitution guarantees “the right of workers to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and engage in other collective action.” To strike is every worker’s right, and everyone should stand in solidarity and support the Seibu-Sogo strike.

I think it is clear that in the face of the climate crisis and the realities of poverty and inequality, people are beginning to question whether capitalism is working. There is definitely a growing sense of crisis, a sense that the survival of many people is being threatened. Things clearly cannot continue as they are. While this crisis is unfolding, people are still searching for and exploring potential paths out of this situation. Hopefully they conclude that capitalism won’t be concerned with our wellbeing, until society compels it to be.

The religious right in general and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politics are deeply connected. In 1993, the Kono Statement was issued, acknowledging the involvement of the former Japanese military in the issue of “comfort women.” In 1995, Prime Minister [Tomiichi] Murayama expressed “apology and remorse” for Japanese aggression and colonial rule. Clearly these efforts do not go far enough. Nevertheless, they provoked a real sense of crisis among certain sections of the elite, which went on to establish Nippon Kaigi in 1997. The organization now has ties to many politicians. This connection exerts influence in all areas, including historical revisionism and attacks on gender equality.

Governor Koike is part of this. For example, in 1972 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government published Tokyo: 100 Years of History. It first described how during the Great Kanto Earthquake vigilante groups spread false rumors about, then brutally murdered many Koreans. It acknowledged this slaughter of Koreans as a historical fact. It recognized this event as a man-made disaster, distinct from the earthquake. And it acknowledged the killings as “an irreversible stain on Tokyo’s history.” In subsequent Tokyo metropolitan governments’ memorial ceremonies, previous governors wrote condolence letters for these Korean victims. Governor Koike has adopted a historical revisionist position and refused to do so.

But Governor Koike now faces many problems for her attacks on history. For example, UNESCO just issued a worldwide heritage alert against the governor’s profit-driven redevelopment of Jingu Gaien. The Tokyo government needs fundamental change. We are joining forces with Tokyo residents and other political parties to tackle issues like these from the ground up.

Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida’s choice to respond to military expansion with military expansion is dangerous. Increasing military spending to 43 trillion yen over five years sets Japan on an extremely treacherous path. But no matter what it does, the government remains bound by Article 9. So constitutional reformers, including the Liberal Democratic Party, remain desperate to change Article 9, and there are still moves towards constitutional amendment within the Diet.

Despite all this, there are strong voices of opposition to the Kishida administration’s policy of increasing military spending and promoting military expansion. There is an urgent need to fundamentally change the current political system, which centers the Japan-US alliance as an absolute necessity. That’s why we use slogans like “politics exists to prevent war” and “Japan must help build a community of peace in East Asia,” in an effort to spread dialogue and empathy.

As a high school student, I participated in the social movements opposing the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. People of the same generation rallied and demonstrated, discussing what peace means and how we could achieve it.

All people have a desire to improve their lives and the society they live in. In Japan today, this can be seen in the growing movement of young people demanding gender equality and greater measures to combat the climate crisis. Peace is another such demand.

The most important keyword permeating all these issues is human rights. War is the greatest violation of human rights. It is crucial to understand the reality of war. This is the last generation to be able to hear directly about Japan’s experiences of war, including its exposure to radiation during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must expand our actions for peace in a variety of ways.