First Victim of Reinterpretation

Among Japanese media hesitant to report the incident, Tokyo Shimbun carried a detailed story of a man who set fire on himself in front of cloudy Shinjuku station last week. He protested against then-ongoing process for Cabinet decision on exercising collective self-defense by Shinzo Abe administration, planned to be made two days later. Although there was a sense of self-restriction against triggering another suicide, the attitude of media was criticized as weak standpoint against the administration. Social media actually broadcast the scene. If the man dies, most news agencies will be guilty of ignoring the first victim of the constitutional reinterpretation.

The man was appealing not to reinterpret the peaceful constitution, sitting on a high place of side frame of the pedestrian bridge. “I really loved Japan being peaceful for seventy years. Collective self-defense makes Japan down,” the man said. Then he splashed inflammable liquid on himself and put a fire. Video on social media witnessed the man wrapped by bright flame. Although rescued by firemen, he is still in crucial condition in a hospital.

According to the report of Tokyo Shimbun, the man was sixty-five years old and living alone in a room of small apartment house in Saitama city. No affiliation to political party or organization with specific ideology was confirmed. “He was ordinarily silent to his neighbors, leaving house with his bicycle the same time everyday,” one of his neighbors said.

Foreign media reported the incident as one of the most extreme protest against the administration. Agence France-Presse carried an article titled “Japan pushing on with military reform despite fiery suicide bid.” It reported wide protest before the official residence of the Premier and through internet, government’s ignorance such as no-comment response of Chief Cabinet Secretary, and former suicide against decision of the government. Associated Press emphasized that unusualness, saying “Japan has had very few self-immolations in past decades despite a long history of suicides by ritual disembowelment, or seppuku, dating back to the feudal era.”

For upholders of strict nonviolence, suicide must be neglected as an act of violence on oneself. However, the situation is getting deteriorated as long as the political leaders only care for themselves and unconsciously taking distant from sovereign citizens. It is not surprising, if a person dies in a crowd between protesters and policemen in one of those weekend nights in front of the Premier’s residence. That will significantly undermine people’s credibility for the administration, substantially plunging this nation into serious insecurity.