Winter Soldier in Japan
On October 5th to 12th, IVAW former Board Chair Geoff Millard and Executive Director Jose Vasquez participated in a nine-city Winter Soldier book tour, hosted by the Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union (Co-op).
The tour covered the northeastern or Tohoku region of Honshu Island. The cities included Sendai, Yamagata, Fukushima, Akita, Morioka, Kitakami, Hirosaki, Chiba, and Urawa.
Over 2,000 people attended these events and Winter Soldier books sold out at every stop. Attendees also donated a combined total of close to $10,000 to support IVAW's Iraq Reparations Fund and general operations.
The book was translated by a global volunteer collective called Translators United for Peace (TUP) and distributed by Iwanami Shoten, a major publisher in Japan. At the beginning of the tour, Iwanami Shoten had already sold 6,300 copies of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan in translation and was planning to print a sixth edition.
Japan has a vibrant peace movement that works on many areas including nuclear non-proliferation, depleted uranium, Iraq and Afghanistan solidarity, and anti-militarism to name a few. Two hot button issues right now are the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma in Okinawa, which has faced local opposition since its establishment after World War II. In addition to noise pollution and crashes during military operations, Okinawans have endured rapes, murders, and other violent crimes in their communities carried out by Marines stationed there.
Another important fight is underway to preserve Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which states:
"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."
Conservatives in the Japanese Diet are trying to amend this article to establish an expanded role for the existing Self Defense Forces (SDF). Despite strong public opposition, the former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi deployed 600 Japanese troops from 2004 to 2006 as part of an Iraq Reconstruction and Support Group stationed in Samawah, Iraq.
Currently, there is a movement building to start a formal investigation, similar to the British independent inquiry, into the decision to send these troops and what they did while they were deployed. IVAW has received another invitation to send a representative to meet with elected officials about opening this investigation.
We expressed interest in connecting with any Japanese troops who are against the war and exploring the idea of starting an international branch of IVAW. We also commited to translating parts of our website into Japanese so the movement there could follow our organizational progress. Members of TUP and other volunteers agreed to collaborate on this project.
To purchase a copy of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan visit our online store.
You can also get a translated version on Amazon Japan.
