A growing number of members at Soka Gakkai, Japan's largest lay Buddhist group and the main supporter of ruling coalition member Komeito, are publicly criticizing the party for supporting controversial security legislation that will allow the Self-Defense Forces to help an ally under attack.
Last month, Tatsushi Amano, 51, launched an online campaign to gather signatures opposing the bills after they were rammed through the Lower House.
"It is 'war legislation' that will threaten human lives, drastically change Japan's history to not engage in war and goes against the policy that pacifist Komeito was founded on," Amano wrote under the name "one Soka Gakkai member."