海角大神

Daiki Jou isn鈥檛 old enough to remember World War II or its immediate aftermath.聽But as a 16-year-old high school student, he says he knows enough to be alarmed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe鈥檚 hawkish rhetoric and nationalist policies.

His main concern is a controversial set of bills that would give Japan鈥檚 military limited powers to fight in overseas conflicts for the first time since the war.

鈥淢y biggest fear is that Japan will go back to what it was 70 years ago,鈥� Daiki says, adding that he鈥檚 not alone. 鈥淭hese days more young people are paying attention to politics.鈥�

As Japan commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Saturday, an increasing number of young people are calling on the country to uphold the deep-rooted pacifism that has defined its postwar years.

Thousands of students have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the package of 11 security-related bills, their newfound voice bolstering a modest choir of opponents who want lawmakers to vote down Mr. Abe鈥檚 legislation in the upper house of parliament.聽

The small but growing ranks of young demonstrators have provided one of the strongest counterpoints in decades to the stereotype of Japanese youths as politically disengaged and insular. And they're defying another common narrative: that young people are more nationalistic than older generations because they didn鈥檛 experience the atrocities or hardships of the 1930s and '40s.

鈥淲e are so proud that Japan is a pacifist country,鈥� says Saya Kameyama, a 19-year-old university student, as she handed out flyers at a recent demonstration. 鈥淚f the legislation passes, Japan might get dragged into someone else鈥檚 war.鈥�

Youth in revolt

Daiki comes across as a typical Japanese teenager 鈥� soft-spoken and polite. But with a microphone in hand at a protest march earlier this month, he displays the sort of impassioned anger at Japan鈥檚 political establishment that聽young people have tended to avoid.

"Protect children from Shinzo Abe," he chants, to booming electronic dance music from high atop a truck. "Protect our future from Shinzo Abe. Protect Japan from Shinzo Abe."

The march, in Tokyo鈥檚 trendy Shibuya district, was organized by a group of high school students called Teens Stand Up to Oppose the War Law. Daiki is one of the group鈥檚 co-founders.

The group's efforts paid off, with more than 3,000 people of all ages braving the scorching heat to participate. They chanted antiwar slogans and carried signs that called for Abe鈥檚 resignation. Dozens of teenagers wore their school uniforms, ensuring that there was no confusion about their age. The march was a first for many of them, but probably not their last.

鈥淭he claim that young people are apolitical is getting old,鈥� says Kaoru Nakajima, a 24-year-old university student. 鈥淢ore and more are joining demonstrations like this.鈥�

Yet there are plenty of young people who fall on the opposite end of the political spectrum, those who feel that a war that ended seven decades ago聽has nothing to do with them. In rejecting the narrative of ongoing guilt over Japan鈥檚 wartime aggression, they embrace Abe鈥檚 nationalist agenda.

鈥淭hey are confused why they should be made to feel responsible for something that happened many decades before they were born," Nick Kapur, a professor of Japanese history at Rutgers University, says in an e-mail.聽鈥淎s much as the left has been able to use social media to organize and find alternative narratives, the right in Japan has been able to do so just as much.鈥�

鈥楢 sleeping dog鈥�

Abe, the first Japanese leader to be born after the war, has devoted much of his political career to reasserting Japan鈥檚 position on the global stage. Loosening constraints on the country鈥檚 military would mark the culmination of his push to transform Japan into a 鈥渘ormal country.鈥�

The security bills aim to ease constitutional limits imposed by the Allies after World War II聽to restrict Japanese forces to a self-defense role. Through a contested reinterpretation of the Constitution,聽the military would be allowed to defend allies in limited circumstances and to cooperate more closely with US forces. Abe has framed the policy as a crucial response to new regional threats, especially China.

Yet the public remains unconvinced. The legislation鈥檚 passage through the lower house of parliament last month聽dragged Abe鈥檚 approval rating down to 32 percent, his lowest since he returned to office in December 2012.

The upper house is scheduled to debate the legislation for another month, raising the possibility of more protests. But with control over both chambers, Abe鈥檚 coalition is poised to pass it despite the growing opposition.

Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, says Abe鈥檚 heavy-handed approach 鈥� one that did little to build public consensus 鈥� has come at a cost.

鈥淓ven if they are enacted, the security bills are going to remain contested by the people,鈥� he says. 鈥淎be ended up waking a sleeping dog.鈥�

So far the demonstrations have been relatively small compared to those of the 1960s, when hundreds of thousands of students protested against the renewal of the US-Japan security treaty. But Prof. Kapur of Rutgers says they are a telling surprise.

鈥淭his amount of political activity by young people should be seen as an indictment of the Abe administration's total inability to build support for its policies among younger generations,鈥� he says.

From the streets to the polls

In addition to denting Abe鈥檚 approval rating, the student-led protests could reverberate at the ballot box.聽The Diet lowered the voting age to 18 from 20 in June, boosting the ranks of the voting age population of 104 million by another 2.4 million.

鈥淚nitially the government thought it was safe to lower the voting age. They thought the youth were apathetic,鈥� Prof. Nakano says. 鈥淚 think now they are getting seriously concerned.鈥�

The new voting law 鈥� aimed originally at engaging youths in a rapidly aging society 鈥� will take effect in time for next year鈥檚 upper house election. But getting young people to the polls is likely to remain an uphill battle. Less than 33 percent of 20-somethings voted in last year鈥檚 general election, compared with 68 percent of voters in their 50s and 60 percent of those in their 70s.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese students who study abroad has declined 30 percentage points over the past decade, a statistic that many have interpreted as a sign of youth apathy toward the outside world.聽Young Japanese have developed a reputation as being聽inward-looking and uninterested in聽events outside their immediate lives.

Benjamin Uchiyama, a professor of Japanese history at the University of Kansas, says that could finally change if Abe continues to ignore the issues raised by young people.

鈥淭his could be a turning point,鈥� he says. 鈥淵oung people are finally getting fed up with an unresponsive government that seems not very concerned with public opinion. They seem to be against a majority of what the Abe government is trying to.鈥�

The pressure is mounting. On Friday, the eve of the day 70 years ago when Japan surrendered, the latest student-led protest is scheduled to take place in front of the Diet.