Japanese protesters called on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to retract her remarks on Taiwan, and opposed the government's plan to rapidly increase defense spending.

"We will overthrow Takaichi, who is pushing for constitutional revision and war. We will not allow massive military and nuclear budgets. We will not tolerate remarks about a 'Taiwan contingency."

"A Taiwan contingency is not a Japan contingency. It is clearly stipulated in the China-Japan Joint Communique and the documents on the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations that there is only one China, and the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government. Japan colonized Taiwan for 50 years. Are we going there again? Are we going to intervene again in a Taiwan contingency? Stopping this is the responsibility of the Japanese people."

TOMOKO HORAGUCHI Member, Suginami City Assembly, Tokyo "With the soaring prices, many people are struggling to make ends meet every single day. Yet the Takaichi administration is bent on funneling huge sums of money into war preparations, disguising such military expenditure as 'defense spending.' I believe that destroying people's livelihoods, making them poorer, and then pushing the country toward war is exactly what Japan did in the past, and now it is happening all over again."

"The current administration is using the budget only for military expansion, leaving the people to suffer. This is not an accident. It is a deliberate choice made by the administration."

"Of course people's lives will get harder. With tax hikes and military spending set to double in just one or two years. If that happens, military spending will be purely consumption. In a war, once a bomb is dropped – let's be clear, that is its intended purpose – it creates absolutely nothing. It only destroys property and claims lives, and that's the end. That is what we call the military. That is what we call war."

Video link -> https://video.cgtn.com/public/2025-12-14/public/video/509356/509356.mp4

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