A group of high school students, led by a 16-year-old girl, has started to protest against both voter apathy and proposed changes to the Constitution. One student, named Aine (who uses only her first name, as is common online), has come to the forefront of a movement that has energized young people to reconsider Japanese politics and to engage in peaceful and meaningful protest.
Since last summer, the group, which calls itself T-nsSOWL (Teens Stand up to Oppose War Law), has organized young people, many too young to vote, to get out in the streets and express themselves. Younger than the university students who protested under the banner of SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy), T-nsSOWL has been gaining a following among students in high school and even junior high school.
They have been using the power of the Internet to express their opinions by holding press conferences, making videos of demonstrations and communicating through Twitter and social networking services. They have done a good job spreading the word about themselves over the last year, gradually gaining attention. Whether they can actually influence the government remains to be seen. It is heartening, though, to see them break the stereotype of Japanese youth as passive and self-centered, and begin to participate in politics.