Tens of thousands of people took to the streets around Japan on Saturday, the first anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, to call for the end of the occupation and the withdrawal of Self-Defense Forces troops.
With nearly 100 peace rallies and events, part of an internationally coordinated peace action, the demonstrations signaled a revival of Japan's peace movement that suffered from a severe sense of defeat after the United States and Britain invaded Iraq.
In Tokyo, thousands of protesters, some traveling by chartered buses from as far away as Yamanashi and Fukushima prefectures, gathered at Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward despite cold, rainy weather.