Marking the 69th anniversary of the postwar pacifist Constitution, supporters and opponents of constitutional revision held rallies in Tokyo on Tuesday to speak out on their respective causes.
Participants were particularly enthusiastic this year as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party gears up for the crucial Upper House election this summer, in which the party hopes to gain momentum for its long-held goal of revising the Constitution.
Activists on both sides see the election as the last chance to realize or thwart Abe's lifelong ambition to rewrite the nation's supreme law.