Attended by nearly 1,000 people, a new nationwide network for patriots was inaugurated May 30 calling for the reformation of Japan, which the group claimed has declined in every aspect.
Nippon Kaigi was newly formed by uniting two citizens' groups -- the People's Congress to Protect Japan and the Society to Protect Japan -- to strengthen the groups' efforts to arouse national sentiment. "If the (state's) core is rotten, we cannot rebuild the country," said the group's chairman Koichi Tsukamoto, also the head of Wacoal Corp. and former vice president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the founding ceremony held at Tokyo's Hotel New Otani. "If we get 50 million members, then we will be able to revise the Constitution and reconstruct the nation," he said.
The organization's goals include encouraging loyalty to the Emperor and revising the Constitution along the lines of the one the group's predecessors proposed in 1991, which included establishing a proper defensive capability and designating the Emperor as the head of state. The group also believes that Japan should protect its territory, which they claim includes the Senkaku Islands and the disputed islands off Hokkaido.