People who lost relatives during the war and are against politicians' visits to Yasukuni Shrine gathered Wednesday in Tokyo to confirm their commitment to protecting the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9.
They are hopeful that the Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in the July 29 Upper House election has dampened political calls to rewrite the Constitution.
But as the scope of the Self-Defense Forces' activities has been expanded in the past several years, participants said it is increasingly important to raise their voices.